Electrifying Currents: Olympus Has Fallen
by SephCurrentDaughterofPoseidon
Summary: The world is in ruins. Olympus is no more, taken over by people nicknamed 'The Tyrants,' and yet the prophesy is still going. Most people still believed that Seph was going to save the day... she wasn't one of them. So in a world where drones fly, looking for known demigods, and price of being caught is death, the team sets out again, looking for a way to end the tyranny.
1. Midnight Attackers

**Eldest Daughter of Poseidon, beware**

**History will present challenges for the person for who you care**

**The earth rises a new threat**

**Go underground in a maze**

**And get through the tunnel of deadly haze**

**One choice shall decided**

**Whether the demigods stay together or divide**

**SEPH:**

It took Olympus a month to fall after we retrieved the owl.

It took two months after that for all sources of human government, and any order to fall completely. The world was in chaos and ruins. Most mortals didn't make it, they didn't know what was going on. The demigods barely did. My family had survived the initial blow but I hadn't seen them in months. It was best if I stayed away from mortals. Monsters were on the loose, and I was a daughter of Poseidon, apparently I looked tasty.

Camp Half-Blood fell soon after the rest of the world, so demigods were on the run, fighting for their lives. The people that took Olympus down wanted to hunt down the remainder of us, determined to wipe out any legacy of the gods, who were now rotting in Tartarus. It was a harsh life, every second that you were breathing, you had to fight for. The next chapter of my story starts maybe a year and a half after I found out I was a Half-Blood...

It was a dark and dreary day, which was no surprise, every day was dark and dreary. I looked around at the remains of Manhattan, the broken glass on the streets, the rusted buildings, and the fires that were randomly breaking out, whether from a monster, or from a mortal marauder, I had no idea, all I knew was to stay away.

A bronze drone, made by a traitorous son of Hephaestus, zoomed by. There was a camera on the bottom, probably sending a live feed back to Olympus (if it could be called that anymore). They were still looking for known demigods. I ducked into the shadows of a nearby alleyway. Water was on the ground in a puddle, once again, no surprise. All it did was drizzel. I looked into my reflection and realized that I looked much older than seventeen. Despite how smudged my face was, and how damp and tangled my black hair was, I didn't look like a kid anymore. My green eyes showed more weariness than people twice my age normally should have shown.

The thought angered me.

I heard the drone buzz away, so I stepped out of the alleyway and started making my way to my house. The only reason why I even ventured into the city was because I had been running out of food. The army satchel slung across my shoulder was full of cans that would sustain me for a few weeks, maybe even a month if I rationed properly.

My left arm stung where a hellhound had scratched me a few hours earlier, but it was nothing that I wouldn't be able to bandage when I got back. I paused for a moment in the middle of the street, inhaling deeply before exhaling slowly. I was tired from terrible nightmares, drained from the earthquake that the nightmare had caused, and my arm hurt like hell... I was taking a shortcut.

Why didn't I just suck it up?

I turned down an alley that I knew would lead directly to the road that would take me out of the city. There were certain perks to scavenging in the city you used to live in. I walked through the dark alley calmly, nothing much scared me anymore. Attacks were common, and if you were scared of them, you were dead. Of course that didn't mean that I wasn't surprised when I was slammed against the deteriorating brick wall beside me, a small pocket knife against my neck.

I didn't think as I reacted. My hand went up and gripped my attacker's wrist, twisting it at an odd angle, forcing them to drop it. My foot went out and knocked his feet out from under him at the same time, causing him to go crashing to the ground. I got a closer look at him. He seemed to be twenty three or so. He had olive toned skin, and hair that was a very curly brown. A scar was on his left cheek where he had apparently come across a monster. Mortals were able to see monsters, with the fall of Olympus came the fall of the Mist.

He looked at me with distaste, and he was apparently going to get up and go for a second round, I wasn't in the mood. "Thanks for the knife," I snapped before bringing my foot forward to connect with his face.

I grabbed my newly won weapon and went on my way. Trying to get out of the city before dark if I could help it. I found myself running, and ducking into alleyways, trying to get out asap. Everything was going smoothly after the incident in the ally. I made out of the city without a hitch. And as soon as I got to my house, I set my food down at the door and decided that I would fix everything the next day... including my arm. I went into the back bedroom and laid down on the bed, closing my eyes.

Maybe I should explain how it's my house. At the end of the world, no one was concerned with property, everyone fled their homes to be slaughtered in the streets. This home was pretty far away from the city with a lot of forest for cover in case the drones and demigods came looking out there. It was there and so was I, therefore I used it.

Back to the story!

I didn't get to close my eyes for very long. My senses were always on alert, looking for the slightest abnormality (thank the gods for ADHD), so when I heard footsteps outside, I didn't hesitate. I jumped up and grabbed my sword, taking a normal knife in case it was a mortal. I remembered the last time I walked outside with just celestial bronze... bad.

As soon as I stepped out onto the back porch, I was hit from the side by someone obviously very strong. I hit the ground hard, knocking the breath from my lungs, my mortal weapon nowhere to be found. Disoriented, I squirmed out of my assailant's grip and got to my feet. It was obviously a guy was attacking. He attempted ti catch me with a left hook, I managed to block it, but he hit the scratch. My breath hitched in pain. Apparently sensing a weakness, he pressed forward, making sure to attack my let side. He kept advancing closer, as I backed up, I managed to block most of his blows, but he'd managed to block every single one of mine.

I'd managed to get myself cornered. My stupidity, of course. He threw himself at me one last time, causing me to bump back into yet another brick wall. He caught my hands, locking them in his and pressing them beside me on the wall, he paused for a moment, his head down, obviously catching his breath like I was catching mine. He'd managed to keep his face hidden the entire time, the only thing I'd seen of him was his pitch black hair. It was so dark outside, I wasn't entirely sure if I was right.

As soon as he looked up at me, he paused. His electric blue eyes widened in utter surprise. Immediately, he let go of my hands and backed away from me. Not sure what was going on, I took my sword, Tsunami from my wrist (bracelet form) and pointed it at him.

As he stepped closer to the light of the torch that was still going on the inside, I noticed some key things about him. His unruly black hair, the beautiful electric blue eyes, the small scar that was right above his left eyebrow. I dropped my sword in surprise. Not thinking over what I was doing, I ran over at gave him a hug so tight, I probably knocked the breath out of him.

**This will probably be my shortest chapter.**

**Sneak Peak at the next chapter:**

_**I definitely failed inspection. "Seph! You're such an idiot! You manage to survive by yourself in an apoplectic world for a year, and you're going to kill yourself from an infected arm."**_

**Review!**


	2. What Are You Doing Here?

He only paused for a moment before returning the hug just as strongly. "What are you doing here?" he demanded.

"What do you mean?" I asked, my arms still around him, my head still buried into the crook of his neck.

"The outskirts of Manhattan," he said, "it doesn't get more dangerous."

"I missed you," I said, ignoring his scoldings.

He inhaled deeply, squeezing me tighter if that was possible, before letting out a shaky breath. "I missed you too."

I hadn't seen James since the camp fell. We decided that together we would send out too strong of a signal, so all of the demigods split up, going all over to country. I had been without any source of friendly human contact for at least a year.

"Come on," I said, "get inside." I pulled away from him reluctantly. He seemed to have the same issue because he slid his hand into mine. I walked over and grabbed my knife before we walked up the steps into the home. James started taking a look around. His eyes roamed over the white walls and the red drapes, to the tiled floors and the high up roof.

"Nice place," he said, "its been a while since I've actually went into an inviting home."

"Too long," I said. We stood in silence for a few minutes, drinking in the presence of one another. I asked the question that had been bugging me, "Have... have you seen the others?"

He nodded, "I have. They're all fine. I was just coming here to make sure that the drones weren't going to come any father out than they normally do. We have a bit of a community farther south. I was headed there and needed some medical supplies, I got bit by a telekine because I was too close to water. You should come back with me."

I looked away from him, for a moment before looking back, he was staring at me intently. "I don't know, James. I've done so well over here."

"Think on it," he suggested. Then his ADHD showed itself. "Where did I hurt you?"

"Hm?" I asked distractedly.

James didn't answer, he just grabbed my left wrist gently and pulled my arm up for evaluation. I definitely failed inspection. "Seph! You're such an idiot! You manage to survive by yourself in an apoplectic world for a year, and you're going to kill yourself from an infected arm."

"It doesn't hurt that-" I cut myself off and hissed sharply as James proded the now swollen wound with his index finger.

"Really?" he asked, amusement deep in his voice.

"What about you?" I accused, feeling annoyed. I wrenched my wrist out of his grip, "Mr. I Got Bit By A Telekine!"

"I know I got bit," he snapped, "right on the damned shoulder! Why do you think I'm here? I told you that I was looking for medical supplies!"

I walked behind him and pulled his shirt neck of his t-shirt down. There was a freely bleeding wound, two rows of deep punctures, and the flesh seemed to be missing where the monster's k-9s would have been. "How bad is it?" he asked.

I ran off to grab a towel to staunch the bleeding. "Take your shirt off!" I ordered.

"What?" he demanded, confused.

"Now!" I snapped, before I disappeared from his sight and into the bathroom. I grabbed my first aid kit a couple of washcloths, and a towel. When I got back into the living room, James was there, wincing as he attempted to move his bad shoulder.

"I need help," he sighed.

"You didn't seem to have a problem using it outside when you were attacking me," I accused.

"I know," he said, "I wasn't that bad until now, I think I ripped it open even more. It hurts like hell now."

"Fine," I sighed, walking forward. I grabbed the hem of his shirt and inched it up, over his good shoulder. It went over his head, then it was sitting over his wounded shoulder. "I don't know if its sticking," I informed him, "this might hurt."

He nodded mutely and tensed, preparing himself for the pain. As gently as I could, I lifted the shirt from his shoulder. It was stuck in some spots at the bottom. James hissed and muttered some very insulting profanities about the telekine's mother under his breath as I pulled them out. Finally, his bloodstained shirt was laying on the floor.

"Lay on the couch," I said.

He complied, but as he laid down on the black leather, he asked, "How do you know so much about this?"

"Will taught me," I explained. "And a lot of practice. When the initial blow ended, most mortals here were deathly wounded, I tried to help them."

After thirty minutest of cursing from James, and thirty minutes of trying to calm him down from me, his shoulder was bandaged. "When you get back, you need to have Will check it out. I'm not a pro like him."

"I feel better already," James said, trying to make me feel good. I rolled my eyes, as he sat up. "Your turn."

"What?" I asked, yawning slightly.

"Its your turn," he said, patting the couch beside him.

"I'm tired," I protested. "And mine isn't even that bad!"

"Your lying," he said. "Now sit down and take it like a man."

I blinked at him. "Really?"

He shrugged, "I was trying to be funny. Would you prefer me serious?"

"Yes, because you're not a funny person," I replied. "Leave that to Skylar."

"Fine," he shrugged. "Sit."

I sighed, already preparing myself for dealing with the pain silently. I wouldn't show pain in front of James. When I sat down, he brought the alcohol and peroxide out. As he poured the peroxide on my wound, he said, "So the reason why your wound if bubbling like a soft drink is because it 'isn't even that bad?'"

"Tempest," I said through clenched teeth. "Shut up."

I was looking straight forward, at the window across the room out into the trees, that didn't mean I had tunnel vision. I saw James smiling slightly at my reaction. Jerk.

As soon as the alcohol hit it my head went down to the back of the couch. I was fighting back a scream of pain. James wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me into a sideways embrace. "Its okay," he whispered into my ear. "I know it hurts."

I buried my face into his shoulder, embarrassed because of my weakness. I nodded for him to continue.

When my arm was bandaged up, I remained seated where I was, my head on James' shoulder. If he had a problem with it, he didn't say anything.

"Are you comfortable?" he whispered.

I nodded, closing my eyes.

"Still tired?"

I nodded again.

"Then get some sleep," he instructed.

He didn't have to tell me twice. Feeling safer than I had in a year and a half, I fell asleep easily.

That didn't mean that the nightmares stayed away...

Mormo was back, we were in the middle of the ruins of Manhattan instead of her cave. It was like every night, she was looking at me with malice in her eyes, her hand over James' throat, giving me an ultimatum that I couldn't hear. I knew it was my choice, my decision for the big prophesy. Like every time, I tried telling her that I couldn't hear, and once again, like every time apparently that the right answer. She bit into James' neck, draining the blood out of him. He fell to the ground, while I remained rooted on the spot.

This time it was different. She walked up to me slowly, James' blood dripping out of the corner of her mouth. She gave me a twisted smile and said, "Well, choose. You already killed one how many others will die because you choose the wrong answer again?"

I looked down at James, tears streaming down my face as I screamed at him, yelling his name, telling him to get up. Instead of him getting up, more bodies appeared. I saw Skylar, McKenna, Zach, Will, Percy, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, Reyna, Bryan, and more and more people, the list just went on and on.

All I could do is watch as more and more bodies piled up around me...

JAMES:

I woke abruptly, my arm around Seph, because the abandoned house was shaking. She was saying my name in her sleep, tears streaming out of her eyes.

Earthquake. She was causing an earthquake. That was bad. The children of the big three didn't use their powers lightly, they were destructive and drones would be sent after us immediately.

"Seph," I whispered quickly, shaking her. "Seph, wake up!"

Her eyes tore open and the ground started shaking even more violently. That was until she saw me. The quakes died down and she looked at me in shock.

"You're alive?"

"Yeah," I said, shocked. I pulled her closer to me, tears started coming out of her eyes.

"You're okay," she said apparently in shock.

"I'm okay," I murmured to her, placing her head under my chin as I held her. "You're okay. Everyone's okay."

That was a lie, most people were dead. And the people that weren't were fighting for their lives, but she didn't need to think about that.

We stayed like that until the next morning. My arms around her while she laid her head on my chest. We sat in silence I knew she hadn't slept since, her breathing was too fast.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I questioned a few hours later.

"What's to talk about?" she mumbled, not moving.

"The fact that there was an earthquake five hours ago," I replied calmly, not letting myself become bated by the way she was acting. I was too concerned.

"Its fine," she insisted, tensing as if she was about to move. I wrapped my arms tighter around her, making it clear that I wanted her to stay. "How's your shoulder?" she questioned.

"Fine," I replied.

"I want to look at it," she said, pulling herself out of my grasp and walking over to the back of the couch, looking at my already bare back. She removed the bandage, and I shivered slightly as cool air hit it.

"How does it look?" I questioned.

"It should be fine," she informed me, "too bad I don't have any ambrosia. It would have healed up quite nicely."

"We haven't had any of that since camp," I said. It was true, all remains of the gods, including their food was disposed of.

"How's your arm?" I asked

"Its fine," she said, waving it in front of my face from behind me. I grabbed her wrist and pulled her forward, her body collided with my good shoulder and she laughed lightly. The swelling had gone down and it didn't look as red as it had the day before. Looks like harsh Roman training with the Apollo kids had come on handy.

I was about to make a joking comment when I heard a loud thud on the front door. For a couple of seconds silence consumed us. "What the hell-"

BOOM! I was cut off by a loud and fiery explosion. Thankfully the couch that we'd slept on was facing the front door on the other side of the room. The bright light and the heat stunned me for only half a second. I jumped to my feet and dove on the other side of the couch, Seph ducking down with me.

"You're getting good," I commented to Seph as another arrow came through, hitting the top side of the couch with a thud, I felt the tip of the arrow sticking out of the leather, an inch in front of my nose.

**Thank you to all that reviewed, favorited, or followed! I own only the plot and Seph and James. Keep the reviews coming! Lol. Oh and I hope you appreciated the Jeph part I had quite a few people in the lasy story ask for it. I never did deliver too well, hope that makes up for it!**

**Preview:**

_**"I'm scared," she mumbled.**_

_**I patted her back and sighed, resigned to not getting an answer, I wasn't about to pry, even I had more tact than that, "I'm scared too."**_


	3. Into The Forest

SEPH:

I restrained myself from slapping James over the back of his head as a voice started talking. "We know a child of Poseidon is in here! Come out now and this can all be over quickly!"

They actually expected me to buy that. I internally rolled my eyes. I hadn't lived that long because I was trusting and gullible. "Back door," I mouthed to James, gesturing to the hall that was right in front of the couch.

"Can we make it?" he questioned.

"Wanna find out?" I asked.

"I would love to," he said, shooting me an encouraging smile.

I heard footsteps as the people started making their way toward us. I held up three fingers... two... one. We both shot off to into the hallway, turning the sharp corner just before two arrows implanted themselves into the wall. Not pausing to register how close we'd just come to death, I grabbed James' wrist and led him through the house in the dark. We made it to the door in just seconds. We made it out and shut the door silently.

We made it into the forest behind the establishment before they even realized that we were even gone. Needless to say, I'd put a lot of thought into my eventual escape. To my great surprise it had went on without a hitch, I'd even had a companion.

We didn't stop running, even when I was out of breath and I could hear James' breaths coming out as ragged gasps, we still pushed on. The trees passed us in a blur, their roots tripping both of us up. I saw the eyes of curious creatures in the dim moon light. The occasional red eye would show up, letting me know that there were a few monsters in the forest by my house... my old house.

When we did finally stop we had probably already ran a mile or two. My legs felt shaky and I wanted to collapse from exhaustion. I looked over at James, he looked as bad as I felt, sweat made his hair stick to his scalp, his tanned skin was flushed from over-exertion, and he was breathing just as hard as I was. As one we dropped to the forest floor, trying to regain our ability to breathe.

Once my heart decided to stop attempting to shoot straight out of my chest and it didn't feel like my lungs were going to explode I sat up. James was still laying down, his eyes closed. I let loose a small bit of hysterical laughter before I could stop myself.

"I can't believe we actually managed that," he admitted, his eyes still closed.

"Normally our luck isn't this good," I agreed. "But it's still not over. We can't stay here."

"I know," he sighed, "they'll be sending drones over the trees very soon."

"I need to find a store somewhere I haven't raided yet," I informed him. "You need something to bandage up your shoulder, and it isn't exactly warm outside, you could probably use a shirt."

As if I'd reminded him that it was in the middle of December, he started shivering. I rolled my eyes and he grinned. "Does this make you uncomfortable," he gestured to his bare torso.

"Sure Tempest, your bleeding torso makes me blush."

He let out a snort before jumping to his feet. The clouded light shining dimly through the trees seemed to make him look even more intimidating, if that were even possible.

"You're coming back with me, right?" he asked.

I looked at him and bit my lip. I wanted to, I really did, but I was scared. I didn't want to have to fate of everyone on my hands, the world had already suffered because I'd managed to pass out from bloodloss and couldn't go with James and Skylar to Olympus, maybe there might have been something I could have said.

"James, I-"

His eyes narrowed as he cut me off, "Don't finish that sentence if you're going to refuse."

"But, you just can't understand!" I protested.

"No, Seph. You don't understand," he snapped, "they miss you! All of them! Skylar, your best friend, talks about you constantly, wondering where you are and what you're doing! McKenna, your own sister has to walk around, thinking that you're dead! That's right, Seph! Everyone thinks your dead. McKenna thinks that she's the child of the prophesy! Will and Zach don't have you there to keep their girlfriends happy and preoccupied, you were Will's healing trainee! You and Zach would have sparring matches at least once a week!"

I remained silent as he lectured on, feeling bad, when he finished, I spoke up, "Please, James. Stop. I miss them too! But I can't." Finally I jumped to my feet as well. "I really can't."

He looked at me harshly, his eyes showed such disappointment that I wanted to tell him anything to wipe the look away, but I just couldn't.

"Why?" he asked quietly, "One reason, I only want one good reason."

I said the only thing that might get him off my back. "Maybe its because you're there," I informed him.

James stumbled backward slightly as if the words I'd said physically hurt him. As soon as I said it, I wanted to take it back. He narrowed his eyes at me as he talked, "You know that's a damn lie."

I took a step closer to him, angry that he didn't believe me. Was I that bad of a liar? "How am I lying?"

"Why did you fix my shoulder last night? Why did you hug me, exclaiming that you missed me. You slept on the same couch as me, and for some reason I was the source of your despair in your nightmare," he listed off.

Maybe I was a really bad liar...

JAMES:

She looked at me, completely still. Her expression resembled that of a cornered wolf. Which meant one of two things were going to happen, either she was going to physically attack me or she was going to tell me what really happened. Needless to say when she jumped at me, I was ready. I felt a stinging sensation in my cheek where she backhanded me. I caught both her wrists, and she looked severely pissed off.

"I hate you!" she shouted, trying in vain to free her arms. "Can't you take a friggin hint?"

"I could," I said calmly, "but you haven't given one. You're lying, Seph." I looked directly in her eyes and said softly, "tell me what's wrong so I can help you."

All of the hardness and anger seemed to leave her eyes. Leaving a broken and scared girl. "I can't do it anymore," she said, leaning into my chest, shaking in what was probably hysteria.

"Can't do what?" I asked.

"I'm scared," she mumbled.

I patted her back and sighed, resigned to not getting an answer, I wasn't about to pry, even I had note tact than that, "I'm scared too."

Despite obvious safety hazards, I didn't let go of her as I found a large tree. I flew both of us up to a high and sturdy branch. She kept her arms firmly around me as we sat there in complete silence. I didn't know what to say to make her feel better. To be truthful I didn't know the exact reason that she was scared. Whether it was from dying, meeting new people after being alone for so long, or about something entirely different, I had no idea.

We sat there for probably hours. The silence wasn't a comfortable one, she was apparently embarrassed about what had happened earlier. I closed my eyes and apparently dozed off, because the next thing I knew, Seph was shaking me awake. "We should probably go."

"Are you alright?" I questioned.

Her cheeks reddened and she nodded. I tightened my hold around her waist and gently lowered both of us to the ground.

"You have to be freezing," she commented.

"You happen to be very warm," I informed her, to be completely truthful I'd have to say I was cold, she didn't need to know that.

"Come on," she said, rolling her eyes.

It took us hours to make it to the other side of the forest and by the time that we did I was hot and sweaty, not missing my shirt at all.

"Where to now?" she questioned. Her voice was carefully controlled, I could tell that she was still reluctant to go with me. I couldn't leave her by herself, she was a mess.

"The nearest store would be nice," I informed her.

"Walmart it is," she said. We walked in the shadows of tall buildings, not wanting to be seen by something that we couldn't see. A large and obviously deteriorated supermarket loomed in the distance.

Ten minutes later, we made it to the broken glass doors. As we walked inside, I realized that it would have been almost pitch black but the gaping holes in the roof allowed light to come in. The silence in the establishment was crushing as we made our way through. Something didn't feel right.

"James," Seph, "does something feel wrong somehow to you?"

I nodded, "I was hoping it was just me."

"No," Seph said, "its not. I think we're being watched."

I nodded in agreement as we made it to the remainder of the men's department. Clothes were strewn everywhere, the racks and shelves that they'd originally been put on had been knocked over and torn apart. Blood spattered the walls and the clothing, leading me to figure that the invading army had come in here to exterminate any demigods and rebels.

"Well grab something," Seph ordered, "I'm going to see if they have a jacket," she gestured to her right, where the guys coats would have been. She waded through the sea of clothes and out of my sight.

Sighing, I started sorting through the mess, looking for a few warm shirts in my size. After about ten minutes of silence between us, I called out, not trusting it.

"Seph?"

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Nothing," I said.

Silence consumed us again. Finally I'd found three warm shirts, after putting one on, I started walking through, "I found some," I said.

No reply. Frowning, I called her name, "Seph?"

Once again no reply.

I walked forward, extremely worried, halfway hoping that she'd developed a sick sense of humor in the year that we'd been apart.

As soon as I turned a messy corner, I'd found my reason for her silence. She was being held at the point of a knife and three spears... all celestial bronze.

"You have a lot of nerve," the person holding the knife at her throat said coldly he had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes, "coming into our place of refuge and taking from it, filthy tyrants!"

I put my hands up slowly, showing that I wasn't armed. Seph was still squirming to get out. The person with the knife seemed to notice because he back handed her in the jaw so hard that the sounded echoed off the walls. I wanted nothing more than to do the exact same to him. I was so angry that I was seeing red. I heard the crackle of electricity that was coming off my skin, and felt the slight tremor of the ground under me, Seph was angry too.

"Look," I said calmly, "we aren't Tyrants. We were being hunted by them. I was injured, still am. So is she."

The boy looked at the others. "Lets take them to the leader, she will give final ruling." He looked at me, his eyes narrowed, "Come with us. One false move and your friend dies before you have time to blink."

I nodded and followed them to the back of the store. Sitting on a lavish recliner was the last person I expected to see in Manhattan. "Oh gods," I muttered under my breath as I looked at Seph then back to her, "I'm dead."

**I hope you enjoyed! I own nothing...**

**Preview for Chapter IV**

_**He sighed and looked away from me, "For the record, I don't have a concussion this time."**_


	4. The Community and Skylar's Surprise

SEPH:

Clarisse La Rue was sitting on her Lazy Boy throne as we walked up. I heard James mutter something under his breath but I couldn't quite catch the words. I remembered Skylar telling me that they hated each other, and I'd seen it firsthand a camp a few times. James may have had diplomatic training at his Roman camp, but I knew that he wasn't about to beg for his life with Clarisse, he'd rather die. I, on the other hand, was about to do the talking whether he liked it or not.

"Well," Clarisse said, standing up and walking over, "isn't this interesting."

James remained silent, loathing was a dominant look on his face.

"What's wrong, Tempest?" she asked teasingly.

"Clarisse," I said, only to have the knife pressed tighter against my throat. This prick was starting to annoy me. "If your friend doesn't remove this damned knife I'm going to shove it so far up his-"

I didn't have to finish my statement, Clarisse had already snapped her fingers and the boy had removed the blade and the other boys lowered their spears. Clarisse muttered something that sounded like 'idiots' under her breath before she spoke up. "That mouth of yours is going to get you into some trouble one of these days."

I smiled, "There was a reason that I stayed on kitchen duty."

"Most of the time it was because of him," she jabbed her finger in his direction.

James scowled but seemed to have the sense to remain silent.

"Your boys always accuse innocent demigods of being Tyrants?" I questioned.

"Can never be too careful," she said.

"Some people, like James, take that as a serious offending remark."

"They'll be okay," she said gruffly.

Not wanting to argue with her, I said, "What are you doing here?"

"Thriving," she said, "we live in Walmart! Center of chips, soda, and all the junkfood you could ask for. That, and we're keeping an eye on Manhattan."

"Can't be too careful," I agreed. "We should be on our way," I admitted, "Tyrants were tailing us a few hours back, I don't want to bring you any trouble."

"I hope they come," Clarisse said gruffly. "I haven't had a proper fight since the last battle..."

We all remained silent for a moment. That had been a rough time. Too many deaths.

"Have you gotten everything that you need?"

I nodded and said, "It was nice seeing a friendly face, La Rue."

"I didn't know it was friendly," she said.

"More friendly than hellhounds," I informed her.

She snorted and said, "See you around, Current." She looked over at James and sighed, "Take care, Tempest."

"Likewise, La Rue," he replied.

The boy with that had put the knife up against my neck started to follow us, but James stopped him. "One more step and almost at extinction or not, I will make sure that one less demigod is on earth."

With that comforting statement, he turned around and led the way out of the store, not turning around until we were in the ruins of the parking lot.

"What was that?" He questioned.

I was silent for a moment as the wind hit my face. "Back at camp, we both had something in common. And when we ended up in kitchen duty together all of those times, it was the time that we kind of bonded, venting to one another."

"What was your one thing in common?" he questioned.

I was thinking of a nice way of saying it, but found none, so I just settled for being blunt. "We both fought with you like cats and dogs. And we both kind of disliked you."

"Really?" he asked, "hatred of me brought you two closer?"

"Pretty much," I shrugged.

James pulled something out of his pocket: a set of keys. Pressing a button on an electronic device that was attatched to the chain, he began walking. "Let's get a move on."

"What was that?" I questioned.

"I stay in a community full of mortals and demigods," I said, "Leo Valdez amongst them. Do you really think I walked?"

"Fair," I shrugged. We were on the road again, it was empty, of course, not even a monster in sight.

We walked in a companionable silence for a few minutes. When the superstore was out of sight, James finally talked again. "Seph?"

"Hm?" I asked.

"Are you going to go with me?" he asked.

I remained silent for a moment, just walking. And he kept on talking. "We can wait here," he gestured to an old building, the remains of a jungle gym in the back led me to believe that it was an old school.

We both sat on a green metal bench in the front yard. It seemed to be sturdy enough. "Why do you want me to go there?" I finally inquired.

"I already told you," he shrugged.

"That's not what I meant," I said quietly, "you know that. You told me why the others want me back. Why do you? Do you miss arguing with me?"

"Are you seriously that clueless?" he asked.

"I-"

I was abruptly cut off by a warm pair of lips. They were cracked and a bit rough, but still soft. They didn't stay against mine for very long, just long enough to shut me up. "I miss you more than the rest of them put together. Of course I miss our arguments! You made them worth having. You would stand up to me. You actually worry about me. And care when something is bothering me, refusing to let it go until I'd tell you what it was. I miss talking to you, when I was upset just being around you made me feel better. You made me remember that the world was actually worth fighting for. Then camp fell and you were gone. Everyone was gone. Most of us came back together again, but you never did. We all wondered what happened to you, so when I found you..."

He sighed and looked away from me, "For the record, I don't have a concussion this time."

Despite what was going on, I felt a small bubble of laughter come out of me. "I noticed." I leaned over, placing my head on his shoulder. "What are we waiting here for?"

"You'll see," he sighed, "it should be here any second."

As if asking about it had made it appear, a Camaro came riding up. It would be completely normal if it weren't in a war torn world, and it would have been more normal still of someone had been driving.

"Self driving cars," James shrugged, "I learned a long time ago to not question Leo."

James sighed and looked at me, sadness deep in his eyes and he wasn't even trying to hide it. "Are you coming?"

I stood up and looked at him. My heart was beating as if it was trying to escape from my chest. The wind was chilly, making my thoughts crystal clear as I kept weighing the pros and the cons. Suddenly I realized something: I didn't want to be alone anymore.

"Yes, I am," I replied. Before I could get another word out of my mouth, James had literally picked me up and spun me around, pulling me close into a tight embrace. When he set me down, I kept my arms around my neck, where they'd been in the first place, hanging on for dear life. "Don't make me regret it," I whispered.

"I wouldn't dream of it," he replied, leaning closer and pressing his lips softly against my forehead. He removed his arms and I walked over to the passenger's side and got in. James got into the driver's seat and put the car into drive. Sadly, I realized why not getting into a car with him before the end of the world would have been a very stupid idea: James drove like a madman.

He probably didn't go below seventy on the smaller roads. And on the larger ones he had to be pushing ninety. At first I was internally freaking out. The only thing that stopped me from demanding him to pull the car over and let me drive was my pride wouldn't let me. Eventually I got used to it.

I leaned my head back on the seat, and James glanced over at me. "Take a nap," he suggested, "we're still a ways out."

I didn't respond as I closed my eyes, drifting off into an oddly dreamless sleep...

I was woken up when the car stopped, the sky was reasonably darker than normal, telling me that it was sunset. "

"We're here," he replied, opening his door and stepping out. I heard the crunching of twigs under his feet as I mimicked his actions. I stretched my stiff muscles as I looked around. There were old trees all around us, causing it to seem much later than it actually was. The ground was covered in a very fine layer of white. That was when I first realized it was snowing. I smiled and looked at the flakes falling down.

I heard the faint sounds of shrieking laughter that only smaller kids had the ability of making. We walked forward, James casually sliding his arm around me and pulling me against him. I felt myself smiling as the trees broke and we were in a large community. People were walking around everywhere, kids were playing in the streets, mothers were together, talking. Fathers seemed to be throwing footballs and baseballs with their sons. It made me smile, seeing that people still had it in them to remain normal and cheerful. A few heads turned as we walked up. Apparently they weren't used to strangers.

James winked at a small boy with red hair and green eyes. He ran up and jumped on James' back. James chuckled as he let me go. "How's it going, Avery?"

"Good," the boy said. "You're back early!"

"Early?" I asked softly, "how long are you usually gone?"

"Well," James said, thoughtfully.

"It feels like forever," the little boy confided. "I miss my big brother!"

"Big brother?" I looked at James questioningly.

James sighed, "He and I were taken in by the same family." He chuckled, "they have the same last name as you oddly enough."

"Who is she?" Avery asked James.

"This," James said, shifting slightly so that Avery was sitting more comfortably on his back, "is Seph."

We kept walking slowly through the surprisingly large town as we talked. The trees started to loom toward us when James turned down another road. "I need to let Mom and Dad know I'm back," James sighed, "they hate it when I leave. But they're very understanding about the whole demigod thing... oh and Seph, this is Avery, son of Demeter."

James stopped in front of a good sized house with two stories. The yard had a few more people standing around in it.

"Oh," Avery said, jumping off James' back apparently to go and play with his friends, "the others are here."

I was about to asks who the others were when the front door of the house opened. A girl with dirty blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and the trademark facial features of a child of Hermes came out. As soon as she locked eyes with us, she froze. A smile unconsciously came to my face as I looked back.

"Oh my gods!" she shouted, causing everybody to stop what they were doing and look, before running down the stairs. Two seconds later I was engulfed into a bear hug.

I hugged her back, not realizing how much I missed her until then. I felt my eyes getting moist from happiness. When she pulled away from me, she looked me over, "Its you? The tyrants haven't learned to clone, have they?"

"No," I laughed. "Its me." I looked past Skylar and saw that McKenna, Zach, and Will were staring back at me in shock. Three bear hugs and a few tears later we were walking into the house.

Mom and Dad'll be pleased to see you," Skylar said to James, then to me she said, "they'll be pleased to meet you. They aren't really our parents but James lives with them along with little Avery."

"Met him," I muttered.

We walked up the steps and over to the door. We walked into a neat room with grey carpeted floors. Pictures of different people sat on the mantle of a roaring fireplace. Electricity was obviously a luxury that they possessed, a ceiling light was on, giving liveliness and warmth to the house.

"JAMES IS BACK WITH A FRIEND!" Skylar shouted toward the direction of a darker hallway.

A moment later there was the sound of doors slamming and rapid footsteps. There was a pretty woman with dark brown, almost black, hair and brown eyes which shone with excitement. The man behind her was bald, his scalp shiny, his light green eyes shone the same as his wife's.

I paused and muttered, "No way."

Standing in front of me were my mother and my father. As soon as they saw me, they ran toward me. I'd never been hugged so hard in my life as when they hugged me. I felt my eyes get moist as I hugged them back just as fiercely.

I heard James and the others in the background, asking confused questions. When they pulled away from me, they attacked James.

"Seph," James said as my mother released him. "What's going on."

"James," I said, wiping a stray tear away, "these are my parents."

"Oh gods," James muttered. "You can't be serious." He looked at my mother, "You never told me you had a daughter."

"You never told us that you had a friend named Seph," she countered.

"I know," James sighed, "it hurt too much to explain to others that didn't know."

"Exactly," my stepfather said.

"Alright," my mother said, "there is a town meeting... adults only. You guys wanna give Seph the tour?"

"Of course," McKenna said, "I need to get caught up with my sister."

"You're staying in the room with McKenna and me tonight," Skylar declared. "That way we can interrogate-have girl talk in privet.

I smiled weakly, it was almost overbearing when you hadn't even properly spoke with anyone in the past year. I walked toward the back with all of them and Skylar started speaking.

"Gods, Seph, we missed you! How long were you gone? It felt like forever! I don't know who was worse off, honestly, I think it was James. How did you find him?"

"Well," I said, cracking a smile, "he ran straight into me."

They were all looking at us strangely, and James hurriedly said, "It was an accident! I didn't know it was her."

Skylar led us straight into a spacious room. It had deep purple walls, a large canopy bed pushed to one side of the room, against the wall. and a white dresser against the far wall, just as immaculately clean as the shiny wooden floors.

Skylar walked over to the neatly made red bedspread and sat down. Rolling his eyes, James grabbed a folded up chair that was sitting in the corner of the room and pulled it out.

I walked over to the bed, and climbed on, leaning on the wall, cherishing the wonderful and plush feeling.

SKYLAR:

To say that I was excited was an understatement. Seph was back! So of course the first thing I do when we get to the room was instigate an argument... except for this time it was a complete accident, and the outcome was awkward to say the least.

"Setting out by yourself seemed to have worked out this time," I observed.

"Yeah," James sighed, wincing as he moved his shoulder.

"Next time, though," I smiled, "you might let someone else accompany you, we might get twice as lucky next time."

"What do you mean 'let'?" Seph inquired.

"James insists on going alone," Will answered for me.

"Why alone?" she asked, looking straight at James.

He shrugged. Bad idea. All at once... again, they seemed to forget that we were in the room and this is what happened:

"Because I wanted to be," he responded. "Is that so bad?"

"Yes," she informed him, a small crease in her brow. "You managed to get injured. If someone was with you, that might not have happened. And if it did, how well do you think you would have managed on your own if you would have run into to someone more dangerous than me? Gods James! You could have died. Don't be so stupid!"

He waited for her to finish her rant before simply saying, "As I do recall, you informed me that you hated me. Why do you care?"

Seph jumped off the bed and stalked up to him. He stood up, towering over her, but if she cared she sure didn't show it. "As I do recall, you informed me that it was a 'damn lie!' Don't use it as a cop out!"

"Well," I muttered to the rest of the group, "they haven't changed a bit." I laid down on the bed on my stomach so that I was facing them with my head rested on the palm of my hands as I waited for the next bit of yelling to come like normal.

One problem, James didn't yell. He said softly, "So you do care?"

I was waiting for either A) one slap to the face or B) a humorless laugh. I got neither. Instead she sighed and said right back, "Of course I do."

My hands fell away from my face as I watched. I could feel my eyes bulging. He reached over and grabbed her hand. "Thanks," he whispered before leaning down and kissing her right on the lips.

I literally slipped forward and fell off, landing on the ground with a loud and painful THUD.

**Hello peoples! Hope you liked the chapter. I own only Seph and James.**

**Preview:**

_**Everyone eyed our wounds then our intertwined fingers. Oh gods.**_


	5. What 'Normal' Feels Like

JAMES:

THUD

I jumped back and saw Skylar on the floor. Immediately I felt my face heat up. What was I thinking? Silence consumed us as we all froze.

"Well," Will said finally, "I didn't see that coming."

Instant tension break. Everyone laughed and Seph rolled her eyes at me while I just smirked back.

I walked over and grabbed Skylar's outstretched hand. She gripped it and swung her leg, knocking into mine and pulled down. I tumbled to the floor, while everyone was still laughing.

Skylar got to her feet and laughed, "I can't believe you fell for that one, James!"

I sighed, trying not to show how much that hurt my injured shoulder, "I can't either."

Will walked over and literally picked Skylar up off the ground from behind, tossing her over his shoulder. "Rocaine, you really shouldn't have done that!"

Skylar shrieked and pounded on his back for him let her down. Instead all he did was walk out of the room, shutting the door behind them.

Those of us remaining laughed lightly. I hadn't gotten up off the floor yet, and Zach and McKenna were looking between Seph and myself curiously.

I rolled my eyes and jumped to my feet. "Come on," I said, holding my hand out to Seph. "I think I hear the parents. Your mom might want help making supper."

"I still can't believe the coincidence," Seph muttered, taking my hand.

"William Solace," I heard my mother say severely, "is there a reason why you're carrying Skylar around like a toolbox?"

"Its fun," I saw him set her down as we walked into the living room.

SEPH:

Mom smiled at us as we walked in. "Hello, dears. I was just about to start cooking. Your dad is still out, he was talking to Chiron."

"Chiron's still around?" I asked, a note of surprise in my voice. With the fall of the gods I figured that he would have fallen as well.

Everyone's face fell fractionally. "He is," Zach explained quietly, "but he's aging."

"Aging?" I questioned. "He's immortal as long as people are around for him to teach."

"The gods aren't around to keep their blessings alive," McKenna explained.

"Those two thousand plus years are catching up with him," James muttered grimly.

I looked up at him and realized that he looked genuinely displeased. Being a Roman made it hard for him to warm up to any centaur, even Chiron.

I bowed my head in sadness, and the room was silent for a moment.

"He says he is pleased with your return," Mom said. "He wants you to continue your training."

"I plan on it," I replied, "I haven't had a proper sword fight in a year. You guys are going to beat me down into the dirt at first."

James laughed, then looked at my mom and said, "I imagine you would like some help."

"Sure dear," Mom replied.

"James," I said, "I didn't know you could cook."

"Aw," Skylar cooed, pinching the much taller son of Jupiter's cheek. "He's trying to impress her!"

He cheeks went red as he said, "Rocaine, I help cook a lot, and I don't need to cook to impress her!"

Cue awkward silence...

"How is your shoulder?" Will questioned suddenly, and thankfully breaking it. "That's where you were injured, I imagine."

"He's good," James commented, pulling the t-shirt that he wore over his head and turning around showing off an angry red wound.

"That's kind of what I do," Will informed him quietly as he stepped forward, examining the injury with a practiced eye.

"This resembles the dog bite that Skylar's brother, Matt received from that doberman a few month back," Will said.

"You aren't too far off," James said. "Telekines."

"I don't want to know," Will sighed. "You need to get this fixed up right away."

"It can wait," James protested.

"James Mikel Tempest," I snapped, "Will is a trained medic, now go with him and get your shoulder fixed! I'll help Mom with the food."

He glared at me and I rolled my eyes and shoved him toward Will. "He's all yours," I informed the son of Apollo.

Will smiled faintly at me, muttering something under his breath that resembled, "This should be interesting."

When the two boys were gone, Zach was the loner that looked at everyone awkwardly before McKenna said, "Why don't you go with them? They could use your help. Besides, you're a lousy cook."

Zach looked at her, smiling dryly. "Thanks." He walked off toward the living room and down the hallway.

"He actually listened to you," my mother marveled after a moment of silence between the four of us.

I snorted, "James doesn't listen to anyone. That shoulder of his must have been hurting him, he wouldn't admit it. I just gave him an excuse to get some help."

We all were quiet as we followed my mother into the kitchen. "You guys don't have to help. I think I can manage. Go and have some fun."

"Are you sure?" I questioned.

But Skylar was already pulling me away from the kitchen. "Of course she's sure! She wouldn't have said it otherwise."

I was pulled from that room and out the front door. Avery was still playing with his friends. "That little boy," Skylar sighed, gesturing to him, "is the definition of adorable."

"Don't tell Will that," I snickered, "he might think that he has competition."

Skylar shrugged. "Not even something that cute."

We walked around the house and into the back yard. There was a huge pine tree in the back yard, not quite as big as Thalia's, but it did remind me of it. Skylar climbed the first branch and settled down, leaning against the bark. McKenna and I settled for the ground and against the tree. I looked up at the sky which didn't reflect my mood at all, it was still a dark overcast.

"Spill," Skylar commanded suddenly.

"What?" I asked.

"Spill," McKenna said after her. "We know you're hiding something."

"I'm not hiding anything!" I protested.

"Somebody's defensive!" Skylar said in a singsong voice.

I looked up and glared at the daughter of Hermes. "I'm not defensive!"

Both of them gave me 'really?' looks and I sighed.

"What?"

"What happened when you found him?" Skylar demanded.

"Nothing," I responded.

"That's why he kissed you?" McKenna countered.

"What are you guys?" I questioned, "Daughters of Aphrodite?"

They brushed aside the insult and looked at me with straight faces. Not seeing any way out of this, I gave them a very undetailed description of what went on.

Skylar looked at me with a raised eyebrow and said, "Why do I get the distinct feeling that you omitted some important details?"

"Nope," I lied, "that's all."

"What's all?" Zach's voice said. He was just sitting beside McKenna, his arm wrapped around her.

I about had a heart attack. The look on my face must have been good because he snorted. "Forgotten about my shadow traveling already?" he questioned.

"Guess so," I said breathlessly. "And nothing."

"The others are coming," he said easily. "Will just finished with James' arm. Your training must have come in handy."

I nodded and turned to see Will and James walking up. Will was shaking his head at something James had said while James was holding his injured arm at an awkward angle, letting me know that he was hurting.

"Hope you didn't miss us too dearly," James said, settling down beside me.

"Now why would I miss you, Tempest?" I asked playfully.

"I'm hurt," James said dryly.

That reminded me of his injury. His hurt arm was on the side that wasn't against me. "You are," I confirmed. "How badly does your arm hurt?"

"Not at all," he replied easily.

I would have believed him if I wouldn't have heard Will snort and mutter "Bull."

James glared at him and said, "Traitor," under his breath.

"Okay," I sighed, jumping to my feet. "You want some Asprin?"

"I'm fine," he said exasperatedly, getting to his own two feet.

"Come on," I instructed, tugging on his good arm.

"Maybe he'll listen to you," Will said from behind me. "He informed me that all of the worrying that we were doing over his shoulder was 'unnecessary' and 'stupid.' Needless to say I tried to give him some pain medicine" I could almost see him rolling his eyes. I didn't even have to turn around.

When we got inside, my mother was stirring something in a pot. The smell had seeped through the whole house and my mouth started watering. The look on James' face made it clear that he smelled it to.

Mom turned around and saw us walk in. "Hello, dears. Supper's almost ready."

"I know," James replied, "it smells great!"

"Go and grab some Asprin," I instructed before I walked over to Mom and said, "Would you like me to set the table?"

"There isn't enough room," she replied, "we're gonna eat in the family room."

JAMES:

As we were sitting in the family room, it turned out that the rest of our friends from camp were joining in. Leo was sitting on the arm of Reyna's chair, cracking jokes while the rest of us laughed. Seph and I were seated side by side on the floor, silent to each other but it was a companionable silence.

"Gods I missed this," she said out of the blue.

"What," Percy asked, "your mother's amazing cooking skills?"

I snorted and said, "Don't say that, Sally might get jealous."

"Alright," Mom said as we walked all of our dishes to the sink. "You're going to tell us what happened, right?"

"Nothing that important," I said.

Everyone eyed our wounds then our intertwined fingers. Oh gods.

"We got hurt earlier that morning, before we had even seen each other," Seph said. She pulled her hand away from mine. I understood why she did it, but that didn't mean that I was happy about it.

Everyone was still looking at us intently. I heard Seph sigh heavily beside me and I laughed. "Would you like me to tell the story?" I asked.

"Go ahead," she replied.

I decided to omit the details about our conversation at the school, too much to worry about there.

Later on that night, it was time to go to bed. I gripped Seph's hand, not giving a damn what people thought, and walked her to her room. Before she could walk in the door, I grabbed her good arm and whispered into her ear, "Don't I get a kiss goodnight?"

She sighed like it was a big deal, but I saw the smile on her face as she pecked me on the lips. "Goodnight."

"Get a room!" Skylar called from inside. I rolled my eyes, laughing to myself, as I walked back toward the end of the hall and into my room. Things were finally looking up.

**Don't worry the story is about to pick up its pace and get all actiony again. (Yes I know it isn't a word!) I have a question!**

**In the story the gods have been foolish and reckless with the fate of the human and demigod race. What they need is a new beginning... a completely new beginning. The gods have been cast down to Tartarus. Should the come back out and rule, or should others step up and take their place? I am leaning toward the latter, but its up to you! I need to know ASAP because this will affect the direction of the story. I don't care if you never review, PLEASE review with an answer!**

**Preview:**

_**He trembled from nerves before he shrugged me off and said in a resigned and deathly quiet voice, "You know what. If you don't care, then why should I even bother. Just screw it, Seph." He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.**_


	6. Volunteering for Arguments

SEPH:

A few weeks went by without incident. I had gotten reaquainted with Zach, McKenna, Will, and Skylar, spent more time with my parents, and gotten to know Avery. James and I still argued, but it was more playful than angry. With the weather gradually warming, and the sun occasionally showing itself from time to time, how could I not be happy? But like all good things, this had to come to a jarring halt sooner or later, of course, this was definitely sooner rather than later.

A month or so after I started living in the village, a town meeting was called. We had our meetings in the gym of the abandoned high school, since the town hall had been obliterated while the battles had been going on. The leaders of the community had gotten word of the story of our escape from the Tyrants. Needless to say that they were concerned. A few were positive that drones would soon be sent out to find us, if they weren't out already. That was why I found myself leaving against an old off white brick wall in the gym, sitting on metal bleachers on the very top with Skylar, McKenna, and a bunch of other people that I didn't know.

The entire gym was silent, listening intently to what the two men on the ground were saying. They were walking around, making hand movements to stress their points. I knew that one was a mortal, Mr. Anderson, and one was a demigods, Mr. Cooper. Mr. Cooper was older, with salt and pepper hair, his green eyes held much wisdom. He was one of the rare demigods that got to see past twenty. "We need someone to go out and scope Manhattan. Scout the area, and tell us if there is any unusual activity with the drones."

Mr. Anderson, looked around the room. "The people who are thinking of volunteering, understand that this mission is important, very important, but its also very dangerous."

Without pausing, I got to my feet. My face was a mask of determination as I called down to the two men, "I'll go and check out Manhattan."

The two men gazed up at me. I looked back at them determined. "Are you sure dear?" Cooper asked.

It was my fault that the drones were out. It was me they were looking for. If I wouldn't have had that demented dream, or if I would have been stronger and not caused the quake, none of this would have happened. Of course I was ready. I didn't tell him that, though, I just said, "Yes, sir."

James stood up a few rows under me. His black hair was messier than usual, it was sticking out like it did when he was agitated. "No you're not," he snapped at me. The son of Jupiter turned to the older men that were standing in the middle of the now deathly silent gym and said, "she isn't going. I will."

When James finished speaking, the gym filled itself with a tense silence; it was as if everyone was holding their breaths, waiting to see which volcano would erupt first. I tried to be a gentle as possible as I climbed down the bleachers, shoving people out of the way and almost breaking my neck from falling a couple if times. James saw me coming but he made no move to prevent me from stalking toward him, grabbing his wrist and dragging him down the rest of the bleachers with me. I walked over to the leaders and tried my best not to show the anger that was burning like fire in the pit of my stomach. The best that I managed was a strained smile as I said, "Please excuse is for just a moment." Even I heard the quaver in my voice from my barely suppressed fury.

I didn't wait for the two men to answer as I walked out of the gym, James in tow, stumbling slightly behind me as he tried to keep up and bed down because of the half foot height gap between us. We walked into the school building, which was lit by the dim light coming into the windows. I barely paid any attention to the filthy establishment as we quickly found the first classroom and walked inside. Closing the door, I let go of his wrist and turned to look at James. He was glaring at me, and I found that I didn't care. "What," I said enunciating every syllable, "the hell was that?"

"You being crazy!" he snapped, his cold silence finally shattering, the raw fury underneath was actually quite terrifying. He stalked closer to me and I found myself backing up until I was against the brick wall. I knew that he wouldn't hurt me, but now I knew there was no walking out on the earfull that I was about to get. "You aren't going back to Manhattan! Its too dangerous!

"Oh," I said sarcastically, "so that makes it okay if you go. That's it?"

"I can't stand the thought of you not coming back," he said. "Can you get that through your impossibly hard head!"

"Don't be selfish," I scolded him. "I know I can get in and out."

"How?" he demanded. "How the hell cou you possibly-"

"Experience," I cut him off snappishly.

He paled, "You... are you saying that you've been into that hellhole alone?"

"Excuse me for not asking for your permission to hunt for survival," I said dryly.

"I don't care how many times you've done it," he said icily, "you aren't going! They're looking for a daughter of Poseidon, Seph. That just happens to be you!"

"I know the city," I said in a normal voice, leaning my back against the wall, my arms crossed, showing that I wasn't nervous (hopefully) and that I wasn't going to change my mind. "Its the most logical choice."

"Damn it, Seph, I don't care!" he thundered, punching the wall maybe half a foot from my face.

He bent down to where he was eye level with me. "Can't you see? I don't want to lose you again. I don't care if I'm being selfish. Let me be selfish." His voice started breaking, his expression so desperate...

I wrapped my arms around him in a hug. "You won't lose me."

He trembled from nerves before he shrugged me off and said in a resigned and deathly quiet voice, "You know what. If you don't care, then why should I even bother. Just screw it, Seph." He stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

I just stood there, feeling numb inside.

SKYLAR:

Their shouts could be heard in the gym. I saw Seph's parents look toward the source of the bickering worriedly. Neither moved, it was the same reason why I didn't, because they knew that they had to fix this one themselves. Eventually the shouts stopped, but I was still uneasy. My feelings were proven correct when James came storming into the dimly lit gym alone.

Electricity was visibly crackling off him and his blue eyes seemed to glow with the electricity that his agitation seemed to have caused. I looked over at McKenna, who was sitting right beside me. "Get your sister. I'll talk to Tempest."

"Agreed," she said, rising to her feet. I mimicked her actions.

I ran out of the gym behind a fuming James. I heard footsteps behind me. I spared a glance back and saw that Mr. Current and Will were following me. When I reached James, he was leaning against a tree, his back facing us, head in hands. I kept a safe distance, seeing as he was still crackling with electricity.

Finally I couldn't stand it anymore, throwing all caution to the wind, I slowly walked over to him. In the dimming light I saw that he'd managed to melt the frost off the ground with the heat from his electric rage.

I sat down next to him, not saying a word. He didn't sat anything as he leaned a head against my shoulder. I wrapped an arm around his shoulders comfortingly. "What's wrong?" I whispered.

"She doesn't care," he breathed, shaking slightly. "She just doesn't care about anyone, let alone me... I just can't bring myself to care anymore either. It hurts too much."

James was never like this. He kept all of his emotions bottled up inside and would blow up on people in the battlefield. She must have taken a toll on him.

"It'll be okay," I whispered. I looked over and saw Will and Mr. Current standing there concerned. I silently featured for them to leave, mouthing "I've got him."

Both men turned back and went back into the gymnasium, leaving us in a depressing silence.

MCKENNA:

I raced out of the gym, into the fithly and dim older school. I would have passed her but my ears were working overtime thanks to ADHD. I heard soft curses being muttered in the first classroom that I came upon. Of course they wouldn't go that for before they argued.

I walked in and saw that Seph was slumped against the back wall, he legs pulled close to her chest and she was breathing deeply as if to ward off tears. Her whole frame was shaking slightly and I heard the tremor of her uneven breathing. I rushed over to her, getting onto my knees in front of her, so that we were at eye level.

"What happened?" I asked quietly.

"Nothing," her voice was trembling slightly.

"Really?" I inquired. "James just stormed out of the gym, electric currents coming off of him like crazy. Seph, I know there's something wrong."

"He doesn't care," she said, anger and hurt raw in her voice. She abruptly got to her feet and walked toward the door. "Then why should I?"

She stalked out of the door. The three of us immediately followed. She walked all the way up to the large metal double doors that would take her into the gym. She paused for a moment, putting a neutral expression on her face, before walking through the doors. The gym was slowly filtering out, people were leaving and going to their homes to rest. Mr. Cooper and Mr. Anderson were still standing in the middle of the gym when Seph walked over to them.

"Thank you for being patient," she said to them, her voice only shook slightly, "I'll go. When do you want me to-"

The gym doors opened and from the outside came two people, Skylar and James. He looked better, his Roman training allowed him to mask his anger even better then Seph's. "I'd like to take up the quest," he said, completely ignoring Seph.

"Well," Mr. Cooper said, "I don't see why you both don't go."

Seph and James glared at each other, the hostility was almost a visible entity in the air. I knew if they both went out, they wouldn't come back because they'd kill each other.

"I have a better idea," Skylar declared, wrapping one arm around James' shoulders and the other around Seph's, "why don't we," she gestured to herself and Will, "go with them?"

Everyone was silent for a moment before Cooper realized why she was making the suggestion. "Alright. You can leave in the morning."

**I have votes going on! The gods are going to have advisors** **demigod advisors. Your job is to tell me who is an advisor for what god Apollo's advisor is Will Solace. That is the only one that is already decided. Also, I would like to know if anyone would like to become my consultant for this story. I would PM you and ask your opinion for a chapter. Perks: you would be about three chapters ahead of everyone else.**

**I own nothing.**

_**Preview:**_

_**"STOP THE DAMN CAR!" Will thundered, shocking everyone in the car. James complied immediately, too stunned to question the order. We came to a halt with in between two large grassy planes that were probably fields for corn or cotton before the world ended. As soon as the Camero was stationary, Will jumped out. "I am damn well sick of it! All you two do is fight! I don't know what your mental issue is but you two need to get one thing through your head: you're hurting each other and everyone else around you when you act this way!"**_


	7. Mom?

SKYLAR:

We got up early the next morning. The sun wasn't up behind the clouds yet. As we piled into the Camaro, everyone was in a stony silence. McKenna and Zach had woken up and come from their separate houses to wish us good luck. They smiled sadly at us as I closed the door the back seat. Will and I took the backseat, forcing Seph and James (aka: the bickering idiots) to sit beside each other. It turns out that doing that might not have been the best move. I'd been instigating arguments by them a lot and I hadn't even meant to, though this one might have been the worst one yet.

All I did was try to break the three hour long tension filled silence with something cheerful. I said, "Wasn't this a great idea?"

"No," James immediately snapped back from the steering wheel. "It was an incredibly stupid idea! I could have done this by myself."

"Why," Seph immediately challenged. "So you could get yourself killed?"

I cringed, leaning against Will from my position in the back seat. "I should have kept my mouth shut."

"No kidding," he snorted. "Just let them fight it out.'

"Yeah," James said sarcastically, "because that's what I look to do everytime I go out!"

"I believe it," she snapped. "If you were any slower you'd be standing still! Its not that much of a damned stretch for you!"

James was glaring at the road, his knuckles white because he was gripping the steering wheel with way more force than was necessary. "You know what, Current," he said snappishly. "I can see why you wanted to remain on your own! Your such a selfish and annoying bitch! I would go and get myself killed just so I would have to hear you again!"

"STOP THE DAMN CAR!" Will thundered, shocking everyone in the car. James complied immediately, too stunned to question the order. We came to a halt with in between two large grassy planes that were probably fields for corn or cotton before the world ended. As soon as the Camero was stationary, Will jumped out. "I am damn well sick of it! All you two do is fight! I don't know what your mental issue is but you two need to get one thing through your head: you're hurting each other and everyone else around you when you act this way!"

He gave them one last glare and stalked off, shouting over his shoulder, "I need some fresh air, I don't want to kill my friends when I come back!"

He disappeared from view, leaving the three of us in a awkward silence. I loved my friends to death, but I didn't want to be caught in the middle of their arguments. So I got out of the car and ran off into the large field, stuttering something about finding my idiotic boyfriend while I was running.

I came up to a thick line of trees a few minutes later. I still hadn't seen Will anywhere, which confused me slightly, but he had probably walked into the woods to get away from everyone. I wasn't worried, Will could climb a tree.

I was not about to set foot past the line of trees. As a matter of fact, I was about to turn around and walk past to Seph and James and attempt to bash their heads together... maybe that would force them to be friendlier to one another. That was when I saw a flickering gold light.

It was right in front of me, coming from somewhere inside of the forest. Gold... that was Hermes and Apollo's color. It probably had nothing to do with them, though, they were both rotting in Tartarus. My instincts were screaming at me to turn and go the other way, to go and talk/scream/beat some sense into my friends, to do anything but go toward the light. So want did I do? That's right! I walked into the forest, listening to my ADHD, which was squirming with curiosity.

The dead leaves and twigs crunched under my feet as I walked to the light in almost a trance like state. The forest seemed completely dark around me as I walked; probably due to the dreariness of the clouds above, they were worse than I'd seen in a while, so needless to say the only light there was the one that I was following.

Eventually I made my way through the forest and found myself in a clearing, it was a good size, maybe twenty feet across, and the sun was shining. I was a bit shocked as I walked forward eagerly, looking up at the beautiful sky... big mistake. As soon as I set foot into the clearing, the ground seemed to give away below me. I found myself falling into a large hole that led to a dark room. I couldn't name anything out, and when I looked up, to see where I had come up, but there was no light streaming through the hole that I'd made. I walked forward, completely blind until I came across something solid, a metal bar. My left hand groped sideways, and came into contact with another one a few inch to the left. I kept going sideways, until I came to a cold realization: I was stuck in the dark, all alone.

WILL:

Okay, so maybe I overreacted, but you try sitting in a car with bickering friends while you're on a suicide quest that your girlfriend volunteered you for! I started stalking through the trees, trying to work off my anger when something darted past me. I immediately froze. My hand unconsciously reached for my back. I pulled out my bow and an arrow. I looked around carefully. There was nothing there. But I knew that I'd seen something... something golden. Not relaxing my grip on the bow, I slowly started to walk forward.

I had maybe walked two steps when a golden light flashed before me. I jumped back, tripping over a root and crashing to the ground. My weapon fell out of my hand, and I lay there looking at what formed out of the golden light. In front of me was a wolf with golden fur. My first instinct was to run. Wolves were wild and dangerous... that one probably would have killed me and not thought twice about it. One slight problem with the brilliant running strategy: I was on the ground.

I starred hurriedly backing up, doing a sort of crab-walk. The golden wolf didn't follow, it just looked at me as if I was stupid. Seeing that it wasn't an immanent threat, I stopped moving on my hands and feet and slowly stood up. The look it gave me clearly conveyed the message, 'about time!' The wolf turned around and started walking forward, it stopped and looked at me lazily over its shoulder. It barked, not a threatening bark, but one that said, 'Let's go, already!'

Not wanting to piss the wolf off, I walked forward, apparently pleased, the golden creature walked forward at a fast pace. It was slow enough for me to keep up, but at the cost of stumbling over many tree roots.

SEPH:

I'm not going to lie, I was severely pissed. As tempted as I was to backhand James right then and there, I didn't. I got out of the red car and walked away from him. I needed there to be a hundred mile radius between him and I. Though I wouldn't be able to achieve that far, I could keep the distance pretty spaced. Before I got out of his hearing range, I turned around and said, "I'm glad you feel that way, Tempest. Maybe I will stop caring. All its brought me is pain. Thank you for being a jackass, it helped a lot."

I stormed off, not wanting to hear a reply, if he would have even bothered to give one. I walked past the car and toward the far part of the field. I needed a break. As I walked, I heard another car door slam, telling me that James had gotten out as well. At the moment, I was too hurt and too angry to care. I looked up and saw that the clouds were darker than normal, almost black, the wind was blowing violently, and I could smell where rain would soon hit. For once the weather reflected my mood.

Just when I thought things couldn't possibly get worse (dumb thought, huh?) I felt a sharp and intense pain in my shoulder. The force that I was hit with, caused me to collapse forward, face planting the dirt. "Hey!" I heard a shout that sounded like James.

Startled, I lifted my head up and hissed in pain. I turned my head to the left, and immediately wished I wouldn't have. I saw a golden shaft of an arrow sticking straight up, and blood turning my naturally grey jacket red.

With great difficulty I managed to push myself up, using my right arm only. As soon as I managed to stand, someone was behind me. They pulled my hands behind my back, causing my wound to move with the arrow still in it. I fought back a scream of pain. Whoever it was shoved me forward until I was by a thick pine tree. Rope was tied around me, and I was pushed against the rough bark so forcefully that the arrow tore into my shoulder and fell out.

When my assailant was finished bounding me to the tree, I got a good look at him. Blonde hair, blue eyes, a nice tan, and a quiver full of arrows on his back. What gave away who he truly was, was the arrogant look on his face. It was Oliver, son of Apollo. I didn't know much about him other than the fact that he worked for Gaea and hated James' and my guts for what happened in Mormo's lair.

When he saw me looking at him, he smirked, "Spawn of Poseidon, I presume. You and your boyfriend caused me a lot of pain," he turned his head and showed off a fresh scar running from his eyebrow to his neck. I stiffened slightly as he leaned forward and whispered, "I'm gonna leave your boyfriend with a whole new scar. That arrow I shot you with was poisoned. The only cure is godly food." He leaned back slightly and said. "And since there isn't any..." he gave me a sadistic smile, "you have an hour or so if you're lucky."

I looked at him coldly and growled, "Go rot in hell."

He smiled at me and shook his head, I felt a sharp pain to my cheek where his hand had made contact. "I remember now why I shot at you instead of your boyfriend."

I felt a sheen of sweat starting to coat my forehead, probably affects of the poison that was now wreaking havoc on my body. I felt a cold spot on my cheek. I looked up and saw that it had begun raining... great, just great.

JAMES:

I saw an arrow flying and it struck Seph in the shoulder. As angry as I was at her, I didn't appreciate the fact that someone shot her. Immediately I started running toward her, scared out of my mind. I had made it half way across the field when a stunningly familiar voice said, "James?"

I halted and turned toward the noise. What I saw was a shorter woman that looked to be in her mid thirties. She had soft brown hair and light green eyes. She was smiling and I was filled with warmth and the feeling of safety. Sarah Tempest was standing in front of me.

"Mom?" I asked nervously.

"Hey, sweetheart," she said, walking over and embracing me. Immediately I hugged her back, feeling my eyes moisten just a bit.

"You," I said, too stunned for coherent sentences, "You... you're... hellhound... dead."

"I'm right here, James. I've missed you," she said.

"Please... I need to get Seph. She was shot, stay here," I told her, pulling away and about to step forward, when I halted, hearing something that caused goosebumps to rise on the back of my neck.

"What a dear family reunion," a cold voice said behind me. It was familiar as well, except instead of warmth, the very thought of this girl filled me with a coldness that would make ice jealous.

I turned around and saw that I was right. It was the ghost girl that had taken an interest in me when I'd been on Seph's quest to find the Owl. I didn't know her name, and to be truthful, I didn't want to know. I pulled out my sword, and pointed it at her. "What the hell is going on?"

She gave me a smile that was cold and yet beautiful at the same time. "I figured that you would like some reunion time with your mother."

I walked forward. "Careful," she said, not flinching as I brought the blade of my sword to her neck. "Oliver is keeping that sea spawn of yours company. He can be awfully impatient. I'd hate for him to cause her any pain because you made him wait for us."

I looked at her silently. I sheathed my sword and said, "Where is she?"

The girl led me and my mother, down the field. Not two minutes later I could see the sinister son of Apollo and that Seph was tied to a tree. She didn't look too good. She was pale, sweaty, and fatigued. When I got within reasonable distance, I literally ran up to both of them. Seph's breathing was ragged and she looked to he fighting off unconsciousness. I took her head in my hands, she leaned heavily against them, breathing in shallow breaths. Her skin was on fire.

"Seph," I said, my Roman training hiding any sign of worry on my features, "Seph, stay with me, what's wrong?"

"Go..." she breathed to me. "Go before its too late for you too."

"I'm not leaving you," I said firmly. I reluctantly dropped my hands and turned to Oliver, my anger was unbelievable at that moment. "What the hell did you do to her?"

I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and shook him for a moment. He looked at me for a moment, his expression was that of unimpressed, but I saw the fear in his eyes. "For some demented reason, Elizabeth," he gestured to Ghost Girl, "has taken an interest to you."

I looked over at her, roughly letting go of Oliver, "Sorry but I'm taken."

"You're talking to the Queen of the new world," Oliver informed me, as if I cared. "The beauty if her plan is this: you can choose the sea spawn, in which the three of you die, or you can take that sword of yours and kill her. Take your side by Elizabeth and keep your mom in the process."

It was as if the world had gone out from under me. I looked around at them and then back at Seph. "That isn't a soft spot," I said, "you must hate me."

"James," it was Seph, she seemed to be using most of her reserved energy to speak. "Do it. Its too late for me. I understand." She was very obviously fighting off unconsciousness.

"What the hell is wrong with her?" I said rounding on Elizabeth.

"Dear," she said, running a hand through my hair, sending cold shivers through me. "Don't worry about her. She will be dead within the hour. She can go and rot with her father."

I ran my fingers through my own hair, feeling agitated. Electricity was sparking off my skin but I couldn't bring myself to care. "Please, just save her. Save her and I'll do whatever you want."

Rain was coming down at a reasonable pace now, thoroughly soaking me, I looked over at Seph and saw that she was slightly drier under the tree. "No can do, I'm afraid," Oliver sighed, not sounding upset in the least. "She's set to die."

"James," this time it was my mother, she walked over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Don't you want this. You want me back and alive. After all, you're the reason I died. All you have to do is kill her. You'll only be putting her out of her misery."

Coldness went through me to the bone. My mom was right, I was the reason why she died. There was a problem though: this wasn't my mother. She would never condone killing anyone even if it meant her dying. I knew that.

I took my sword out of my back pocket. It was still in pocket knife form. I pressed the special button and it expanded. "That's right, dear," she whispered in my ear, letting me go. With a cold fury filling me to the brim, I turned around and swung. It caught the woman in the torso. It simply went through her, instead of making her explode, she simply faded.

I turned around and saw that Oliver and Elizabeth were gone as well, leaving me and a half dead Seph in the field alone.

**Thank you all for reviewing and for reading. I absolutely love hearing your input. And a big thanks to HYpatheaticallySPEAKING for looking the chapter over!**

**DrieSummersDaughterofApollo: Thats kind of the idea, :)**

**Preview:**

_**Skylar shoved a note toward me, crying what seemed to be happy tears... she was smiling. I looked down and saw in elegant writing (skipping dyslexic struggle), it said:**_

_**To my adviser: any medical supplies will be available to you any time you need them.**_


	8. Dreams and Advisors

WILL:

I'd been following the dog for maybe ten minutes when we broke into a clearing. Rain was starting to fall, and I was getting thoroughly soaked as I saw an old building just sitting in the middle. It was dirty and unkempt, but I could see that before the world had eneded, it had been a beautiful golden building. The wolf barked at me again it wagged it's tail and pointed toward the establishment before it barked another time and darted forward, past the house and into the forest, leaving me alone in the middle of the forest in the pouring rain.

"Wait!" I called after it, running forward. It was too late now. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and I didn't know what else to do, so I slowly walked forward to the building. At least being inside would keep me dry and hopefully safe. As soon as I got under the porch roof, the rain seemed to go down infinitely harder.

I placed my hand on the cold golden knob and slowly opened the door. It was dimly lit inside. Torches were lit, yet no one seemed to be around to keep them up. I took one last look around the clearing, the rain was pouring down and I was lost, I needed the shelter, I would figure out where to go when the rain stopped. I hoped the others would be alright.

As I walked in, it was quiet. I didn't know what to think. It was obviously a living room, a bronze flat screen television was sitting on one side, a set of couches, symbols of the sun, first aid, and archery were all around. I didn't feel right about being there, and at the same time I felt like I should be. It was incredibly strange. I walked around slowly, examining the archery equipment, slyly slipping a few arrows into my quiver (hey, Skylar rubbed off on me!). The rain didn't seem to be interested in stopping anytime soon, if anything it seemed to be getting heavier...

WA-BAM!

I heard a loud crash, immediately I was in a shooting stance, my bow in my hands, an arrow at the ready. I looked around and realized that the sound wasn't coming from the room that I was in. That was when I first noticed the room in the far corner of the house. I was positive that the noise had come from there. I walked toward the opening quickly before I could talk myself out of it and saw that it was pitch black, the light from the room was in reflected stairs... oh boy.

I slowly started walking down the stairs, the room was lightening up as I walked through. It freaked me out, but I couldn't help the feeling of belonging. I heard curses being uttered, the voice was too familiar for me to keep my mouth shut, though I should have known better considering the last time someone heard a familiar voice in the dark. James was almost killed.

"Skylar?"

"Will?" she called back, "Will is that you?"

"Yeah," I said, quickening my pace down the stairs. In no time I was in a dimly lit cellar. There was a side of the room cut off with iron bars, almost like an oversized jail cell.

There Skylar was, her hands holding onto the metal right in the middle. "Why... why did the room get lighter? Did you turn on a switch?"

"No," I replied, walking over to her, "I don't know what's going on, but this place seems to respond to me."

"Well then get this to respond," she gestured to the bars, "I'm kind of stuck..."

"I noticed," I said laughing slightly. I put my hand on the bar and a door formed right under it, I pulled on the handle, and it opened.

"Okay," Skylar said, slowly walking out of the prison cell, "that's just creepy."

"Why are you in here?" I asked.

"Long story," she replied. "You?"

"Same," I informed her.

"We can explain later anyway, we need to find Seph and James," she said.

I was about to reply that we couldn't with the state of the weather, but I was cut off by a loud bark.

JAMES:

I ran over and gripped Seph's face in my hands again, she was still hot as fire, her breaths were still just as shallow, and she was shifting in and out of consciousness. When she looked up at me, there was no sign of recognition in her eyes, I didn't think she even knew who I was at the moment.

I let her go and grabbed my sword. I slashed her restraints, and she fell forward, she apparently didn't even have the strength to stand. Immediately I caught her picking her up carefully, not wanting to harm her. Her face was wet with perspiration and water, her cheeks were so red despite how cold it was, and her strength seemed to be spent. I didn't know what to do. She seemed to find enough strength to wrap her arms around my neck, and breathe something into my ear.

"James... I'm... sorry..."

"Shh," I said gently, "we'll talk about this later." I was wrong she did recognize me.

She shook her head weakly, "No..."

She slumped limply in my arms, completely dead weight. I looked down and saw a shallow movement in her chest. At that moment that was about the only thing that reassured me. What was I going to do? I was stuck in a field in the middle of a hellish storm, my friends were nowhere to be found, and Seph was on the verge of dying a horrible death.

I started breathing raggedly, about to hyperventilate, when I heard a loud bark. I looked over and saw golden fur. It was a wolf, it looked at me with large, golden, intelligent eyes. It ran up to me, and I barely flinched. I wasn't afraid of wolves in the least. It stopped in front of me, its head cocked to the side, as if asking me if I was dense. It barked another urgent bark and turned around. It wanted me to follow. I was too desperate to question the dog.

"Lead the way," I commanded.

I carried Seph through the forest, following the wolf until we reached a clearing with a building in the middle. The rain was so violent that I was luck if I could see clearly two feet in front of me. I managed to stumble up the stairs, and walked into the house, through the ajar door.

As soon as I was inside, I walked to the nearest couch and set her down on the soft fabric, wiping the wet hair off her face. The dog barked a loud bark, and two seconds later, I heard footsteps and two people came out of a dark doorway on the far side of the strange room.

Immediately I had my sword out, taking a protective stance over Seph. As soon as I saw who it was, I relaxed slightly, and carelessly dropped my weapon to the ground. I fell to my knees over Seph. "Will, you have to help her!"

Will and Skylar both quickly walked over and Will quickly examined her. Looking at her shoulder he grimaced slightly and paled.

"How long?" he asked quietly, resignation in his voice.

"What do you mean?" I questioned.

"How long ago was she shot?" Will asked.

"Half an hour," I replied.

Will put his head down and took a shaky breath. "You have half an hour... I don't have access to the cure."

I jumped to my feet. "Let's get the damn cure, then!" I shouted. "I won't just sit here while she dies! Tell me what it is, I'll kill who and what I have to in order to get it."

"I know you would," Will replied, "but its impossible. Ambrosia is the cure."

All of my previous strength left me as I fell to my knees again beside her. "I'm going to kill him."

"I'll help if you're talking about who did this," he gestured to Seph's wounds.

I looked over at Skylar, who was on the other side of the couch sniffling. I looked down at Seph, she was just laying there, not even fighting it.

"Will," Skylar said, her voice thick with tears, "I didn't know you brought your medical supplies with you."

"That's because I didn't," Will said, moving from his spot and walking over to Skylar. I blocked them out and gripped Seph's hand desperately.

I missed Will saying, "What the hell?" So when I was shoved out of the way, I was understandably confused and pissed. I was shoved away from Seph, who was thirty minutes away from dying, serious WTF moment.

I saw Will placing something in her mouth, a smile on his and Skylar's face. "What?" I demanded.

Skylar shoved a note toward me, crying what seemed to be happy tears... she was smiling. I looked down and saw in elegant writing (skipping dyslexic struggle), it said:

To my adviser: any medical supplies will be available to you any time you need them.

"What the hell?" I asked, getting back to my knees as I looked at Seph again. She was still pale, but her breathing was way more even. At that moment I didn't particularly care why Will had ambrosia in a case that he hadn't even taken with him. I would question the strangeness of it later when Seph wasn't on her death bed.

SEPH:

The last thing I remembered before I blacked out from the poison of the arrow was James picking me off, saving me from collapsing on the ground. As soon as unconsciousness claimed me, I was in a dark pit... literally.

I knew it was Tartarus, yeah, Percy told me all about his trip straight to hell... literally. Plus the two people standing in front of me were pretty good implications. Poseidon and Apollo. Not really knowing the formalities for a god who had been kicked off his throne and tossed into tartarus, if there were any at all, I bowed. "Father, lord Apollo."

Poseidon remained silent, merely nodding as Apollo started talking. Even trapped in a huge abyss in the Underworld didn't seem to dampen his cherry mood. "Hey, Seph."

"Am... am I dead?" I asked. "I was shot with some kind of poison by one of your sons. The only cure is Ambrosia. They kind of wiped out all sources of it."

"You aren't dead, child," Poseidon said. "Not to worry. We're just talking to you while you are resting."

"Resting?" I questioned. "I only have maybe half an hour to live!"

"Not anymore," Apollo said cheerily. "You'll live, though I imagine you'll be rather sore when you wake. My son, Will, has some exclusive access to my medical supplies that not even Gaea can touch. There are perks to being my future adviser."

"Adviser?" I questioned.

Apollo smiled, his teeth managed to shine brightly even in the dark. "Yes, adviser. We have made a deal with the Fates."

"Which is?" I questioned curiously.

"If you can free us, we will be reinstated into our rightful positions, but with only half the power that we originally had. Our advisors will have the other half. Hopefully we can make decisions that will be more beneficial to more than just our pride."

"Who are the other advisors?" I asked.

"They will find out on their own time," Poseidon said, "Will wasn't supposed to find out yet, but your condition made Apollo rethink his timing. It took the stretches of his power for him to get the message out there from all the way in here."

"So why am I here, exactly?" I asked. "Not that I'm not pleased to see you, but I imagine it is talking a toll on you to get me here and I doubt it was to tell me that Will is your advisor."

"You are correct, child," Poseidon said. "Zeus was too proud to do this himself, so I said that I would do it to see my daughter."

Apollo chuckled, "You know, J- his chosen advisor is going to have fun."

Poseidon managed to laugh at that before they both turned serious again. "We need you to get us out of here. You need to find Morpheus, get him out of his torment. And he will be able to put Gaea back to sleep. We can take it from there."

"Where is he?" I asked.

"Olympus," Poseidon. "He is the god of sleep. He has been put under a spell by a traitorous daughter of Hecate. He is sleeping one long nightmare."

"How would I break the spell?" I demanded. "I'm not a child of Hecate, nor am I gifted in magic."

"Get Lou Ellen," Apollo responded. "She's alive in your community."

I nodded. "Alright. Anything else?"

Both gods looked at each other before looking down at me again. "Yes, Apollo said, "one last thing."

I looked at the handsome blonde god. "I'm listening."

"If you succeed, the Fates are going to turn back time."

"Turn back time?" I asked. "How far, and is that possible?"

"For them it is, and they will turn back time to James and McKenna running into the throne room last year."

"How will that affect anything?" I questioned. "You'll just make the same decision."

"We will still remember and our children, assuming that they live, will remember as well," Apollo explained.

"What happens if they die?" I asked nervously.

"They will have their memory wiped from the day that James and McKenna confront us and into the present.

I couldn't argue with that. At least they were coming back at all. "It is time for us to go, my child," Poseidon informed me, "good luck."

I managed a weak smile to both of the gods, and bowed. "Thank you, my lord."

The next dream was heavenly. I was in camp again. Everything was bright and wonderful. The trees were extra lush and green. The grass was even more beautiful than before. It switched to a large house, a huge yard, and small children playing outside. I was asleep in a wonderfully plush bed. As soon as I woke, I heard someone breathe into my ear, "Morning, sleeping beauty."

Jumping, I turned around and saw James sitting there. He was reasonably older, twenty seven or so. He still looked amazing. He reached out with his left hand and stroked my cheek. When he retracted it, I saw a golden band around his ring finger. Automatically I looked down and saw one on my own. I looked back up, unable to prevent a huge smile from splitting across my face...

That was before a voice said in my head. "Leave the gods. Leave them and I can promise you this and so much more. You and your friends will be happy and safe. This is what you desire, even if you don't know it yet."

"Lady," I said. "You wiped out almost all of the earth's population. Do you think I trust you that much?"

"Insolence!" she hissed "this is what shall happen to you when you fail!"

James started decaying right before my eyes, turning into a skeleton. The house began rotting, and bodies upon bodies piled up around me, imprisoning me. I looked down and saw that my own hands were deteriorating before my eyes, turning into bone. I began withering away, but somehow I was still alive. "You will stay alive," she hissed, "and you shall witness the pain and suffering that you have caused everyone! James will become one of the top leaders of the new reign and he will soon grow to hate you. He shall leave you for Elizabeth!"

"No he won't," I said, gazing around in horror as more and more bodies piled up around me. He hate you as much as I do!"

"We'll see," she chuckled, "we'll see."

Finally, the house deteriorated enough for me to fall through. I screamed as I fell, knowing that James wouldn't he there to catch me. Below there was water. I hit with a large splash. Sinking all the way to the bottom, I stayed there, trying as hard as I could to swim up. The water wasn't responding to me. Ad I tried to inhale, I found that I couldn't. I was flailing my arms uselessly as I drowned in the middle of some strange ocean.

My eyes snapped open and I immediately sat up, gasping for breath.

**Thank you all for your input and comments, they were all welcomed appreciated. More would be loved as well! Keep em comin! **

**Preview:**

_**"Don't get too cocky," Seph warned. "We still have to infiltrate Olympus. I don't know about you but I've only been there a handful of times. We have to find Morpheus and hope that he knows what to do."**_


	9. The Walk Back

JAMES:

Skylar, Will and I were looking through Will's medical kit, trying to figure out what the note meant. We were all sitting on the dusty floor, letting Seph use the couch. She was fine now. Breathing regularly and the wound seemed to have closed. Will told me that she had used all of her strength up fighting off unconsciousness as long as she did. Her slumber now was purely regenerative. That made me feel way better.

The rain still hadn't let up, it was still beating down harshly and thundering and lightning outside like mad. It was a terrible storm. I was just glad that the windows on the Camaro were rolled up. It seemed to be a hurricane, even if it wasn't hurricane season.

"So," Skylar was saying. "You think that..."

She trailed off as a huge sound of thunder pierced the room. Seph snapped away, and sat up, gasping for breath as if she had been running a marathon instead of sleeping.

I jumped to my feet and ran to her. As soon as I reached her, she looked at me as if in shock and started whispering, "I'm so sorry," under her breath repeatedly as I pulled her against me.

"Shh," I said. "I'm sorry too. It isn't your fault. It's going to be fine," I whispered to her.

She nodded into my chest. She had balled her hands into fists around the cloth of my shirt.

"That was too close of a call for my liking," I informed her. "I thought I'd lost you."

She didn't respond with words, she just pulled me closer. I looked over at Will and Skylar who were just standing there awkwardly. I slowly and reluctantly let go of Seph.

She smiled at them weakly and said, "Thank you,"

"What could I do?" Will asked, "Your boyfriend informed me that he was willing to go out and murder anything and everything just to get your cure."

Seph looked at me and I felt my face heat up. "I was worried," I defended.

I felt her lips against my cheek. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it, Mermaid," I said, feeling almost shy about the whole thing.

"Can we leave now?" she asked.

"No," Skylar replied, "If so we would have already have went. There's a hurricane going on-"

She was cut off, once again, as a roll of thunder came around, as if emphasizing her point.

We all eventually lapsed into silence as the harsh weather continued.

"Seph," I asked a few minutes later. "Do you need anymore sleep?"

"No," she replied easily. "I feel fine. Why don't you guys sleep. I'll keep watch in case the weather lightens up any."

"You and Skylar take the couch," I said to Will, tugging Seph down to the floor suppressing a yawn.

"How long have you been awake?" she asked.

"Well you've been gone for at least twenty four hours, none of us have slept since you were injured. And I didn't really sleep the night before," I looked down sadly.

"I didn't either," she confessed quietly. "You can lay down," she informed me. "I can keep a look out. But when you wake up I have some news that you just might be interested in."

I nodded, sighing again as I laid down, placing my head in her lap and sighing in content. She began absently running her fingers through my hair. Making me impossibly more tired, not to mention I had never felt so secure. Before I drifted off to sleep, I sighed and said, "I'm so happy that you're okay."

I felt her laugh. "I'm pretty happy about it too."

After that, I don't remember anything. I fell asleep.

My mind seemed to wander into McKenna's house. We were both sitting on her bed. "James?" she asked. "What are you-"

"Don't have much time," I said, "you need to come to Manhattan. Seph's old house. We need you, Zach, and Lou Ellen."

She looked at me silently for a moment, but she didn't question me or complain. That was one thing I admired about McKenna. She knew when to be serious and when to trust me.

"Okay. I'll be sure to be there quickly."

"I know you will," I said.

"James," she said in a small voice. "Is everyone okay."

"Yeah," I said, glad that I was being honest .

~THISISALINEBREAK~

The next morning everything was silent. The rain stopped and we were able to go outside, not that we did at first.

Seph sat us down and gave us a replay of her dreams. When she got to her talk with Gaea, she started stuttering slightly and muttering and blushing furiously. Eventually she settled with saying that Gaea tried tried to bribe her.

"She feels threatened by us," Skylar said cheerfully.

"Don't get too cocky," Seph warned. "We still have to infiltrate Olympus. I don't know about you but I've only been there a handful of times. We have to find Morpheus and hope that he knows what to do."

"Way to keep our spirits up," I muttered.

She ran her hand through my hair again, making me close my eyes as electricity ran through my body. "I took your job," she murmured, "sorry. I was just trying to be realistic."

"It doesn't suit you," I informed her.

She rolled her eyes and Skylar awkwardly cleared her throat. "Back to the quest!"

"We have an issue... you said that Morpheus was in an enchanted sleep. I don't know jack about enchantments."

"You don't need to," she said to her.

"Why?" Will asked.

"I need to IM McKenna. I figured that we could use her and Zach since they were with us when this first started. They could deliver Lou Ellen to us. We can go on to Manhattan, find some secure shelter and wait for them."

"Your house?" I inquired.

"I don't see why not, I doubt they're still looking."

With that arranged, we all got back outside and looked around. "Does anyone know how to get out of here?" Seph asked.

"You wouldn't," I mused.

She shot me an annoyed glare ad I raised my hands in a 'sue me' manner.

"Gods," she groaned. "Remind me again, Tempest. Why do I put up with you?"

I smirked at her and said in my best arrogant tone, "Because I'm the best looking guy around."

"Really?" she asked. "I never noticed."

I glared at her.

"Will you two shut up," Skylar snapped. "I know the way out of here. I don't know if you two were less annoying at each others' throats or not!"

She started walking forward, and we all followed her, I noticed that Seph had a bit of a limp. I walked a bit slower so that I was in stride with her. "You hurt somewhere else?"

"No," she informed me, wincing slightly as she attempted to walk a bit faster.

"You know," I said, observing her. "You're a really bad liar."

The ground was slippery and the dirt had transformed into slick mud. So as she grounded her teeth and said, "Will you shut up!" her bad leg landed on some of the mud and she slid forward. Automatically, I leaned forward to grab her, but I lost my footing as I grabbed her. Automatically, I shifted so that she landed on top of me and I took the brunt of the impact.

I heard Skylar snickering before she said, "If you're quite finished..."

I glared at her as Seph got to her feet. "I'm so sorry," she said quickly.

I got up and shrugged of her apology. "You use me as a punching bag half of the time when your angry with me. I'm pretty sure I can handle slipping."

"You're losing your touch," Skylar snickered.

"Shut it," I said snappishly.

"Is there something wrong with my Jamesie?" she cooed mockingly.

"Sky," Will said. "Get us out of here.".

"Why do you guys always have to ruin my fun?" she pouted as she began walking again.

Before Seph could take another step, I wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her against my side, trapping her next to me. We walked like that. Eventually, she rested her head on my chest making me smile slightly.

As quickly as we could manage with a smug Skylar leading the way, we made it out of the forest. Not that it was easy, after a few minutes we came upon a huge tree, easily taller than me, that had been blown over in the terrible storm. Skylar walked over and nimbly jumped the large!? . Will was next, easily scaling the tree and pulling himself to the other side.

I gestured for Seph to go next. She walked over and attempted to climb it but as soon as she put pressure on it she winced and stumbled. "You go ahead, James. Ilk have to find a way around."

I rolled my eyes as I walked forward and wrapped my arms around her waist, clasping them together around her belly button and she jumped slightly. "Tempest, what are you-"

She cut herself off as we slowly rose into the air. I landed softly on the ground on the other side, being extra cautious not to jolt her right side. "Now about that leg," I murmured.

The glare I received informed me that it would be wise of me to shut up. I held up my hands placatingly and took a step back. "Don't get mad at me!"

"To late," Skylar informed me in a singsong voice. Before I could answer, Skylar wrapped Seph's arm around her shoulder and started moving forward with her.

"Its okay," Skylar said loudly to Seph. "Guys are idiots. James is just the head idiot."

I opened my mouth to protest when I heard Seph laugh. I closed my mouth and shrugged, as long as she was happy.

Thankfully there were no more trees on the path. Though the ones that fell over in the forest caused some to lean over enough that we had to duck to get by. We mostly walked in silence. I heard Seph and Skylar exchange a few words here and there, but that was it.

We made of out of the forest and I saw my car on the road. I wanted to cry in relief. From here I could tell that there had been a few scrapes but nothing that I couldn't fix later. The windows had been rolled up so the only thing that was wet was the shiny red outside.

"I'm driving," Will informed me.

"Why?" I asked, suspicious.

"I hate the way you drive," Skylar said, walking forward and sitting shotgun. "So does he."

I opened my mouth to say something, feeling thoroughly offended, when Seph said. "James, come on! The quicker we get there the better. Let Will drive. You can sit back here with me."

Didn't think about it like that... Sighing I walked over and opened the back door on the passenger's side. I stood aside, gesturing for Seph to get it. She looked at me and grinned before walking over and sliding in. She scooted over to the middle and I got in.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" she questioned smugly.

I tried for a glare, but the corners of my mouth were twitching too much for me to pull it off very well. She leaned her head on my shoulder and was quiet for a moment.

Will started the car and we were off. "You know how to get there, right?" I questioned.

Will nodded. "I know most routes there and back. Coming all the way from Cali has some perks."

I nodded and leaned my head so it was resting on Seph's.

"James," she said suddenly out of the blue.

"Yeah?" I asked, moving my head so I could look at her. I wished I wouldn't have.

She looked at me calmly and asked so that the two in the front couldn't hear. "Who was that woman in the clearing with you? The one that wasn't Elizabeth?"

**Wish me luck on my final exam, lol. Hope you liked the chapter! Leave a review?**

_**preview:**_

_**Finally he said with the most conviction I'd ever heard him use, "I would die for you."**_


	10. Talks and Plans

**SEPH:**

As soon as I asked, I realized that I should have left it alone. He tensed up and his shoulder wasn't as comfortable to lay on anymore. His silence spoke volumes. I lifted up my head and looked outside. Ruins of buildings were passing by now, some looked familiar to me, others were obliterated beyond recognition. Rain was beginning to fall down lightly, and it was as if nature itself seemed to reflect James' newly made mood.

I took a quick glance back at him and saw that his face was a neutral mask, not giving away the slightest emotion. I placed a hand over his and his expression softened a fraction of a degree. "Forget I asked."

He nodded curtly and looked away from me out the window, not saying one word. I looked forward and saw, with large degree of amazement, that Skylar was a walking GPS. She was instructing Will onto which turns to take and informing him that we were almost at our destination.

"Skylar," I said in awe, "I think I told you the street name once... maybe."

Skylar looked back at me from the mirror of the sun visor. She smirked and said, "I'm offended, Seph. Do you question my skills?"

I offered her a weak smoke in return, too worried about James to have much of a sense of humor.

~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~

Will pulled the car to a smooth stop in the yard of my old house. It stood there completely devoid of the homey feeling that it used to have. James quietly got out and I followed suit. We looked at the dismal house for a moment before I stepped forward. "Let's go."

With the rain still falling and starting to get heavier, we quickly walked inside. The interior of the house was dark and dusty, the wooden floors dull, the elegant drapes greying, the tables collecting enough dirt and dust to make a neat freak have a heart attack, and the air felt stale. All in all the house had been abandoned since I'd left. The bad weather made the house dark enough that James stumbled into a table as he walked forward.

He muttered a few four letter words under his breath, none of them pleasant. I walked over to the cabinet beside the entertainment center and opened the door, exposing a few candles. I picked them up and a pack of matches. Spreading them across the room and lighting them up, I silently thanked the Fates for them not checking the house.

"We shouldn't have to wait long," Will said, sitting back on a small black loveseat. He looked at James, who was on the couch, "You told me McKenna said that she would be here A.S.A.P, right?"

James nodded mutely.

Skylar, who was lounging on a lazyboy, looked around at us boredly. "Guys," she groaned. "I'm friggin ADHD! I cannot just sit here!"

"What would you prefer?" I asked, leaning against the wall beside the doorway, arms crossed over my chest. "Storming Olympus without them?"

Skylar gave me a whithering look. "I said I was bored, not crazy!"

"That's about the same thing with you," I informed her.

She straightened up a little and that was when Will stepped in. "Cool it," he warned. "Both of you, we're stuck in here until we can find a way out. If you two start arguing, we'll never succeed!"

I nodded absently and glared at Skylar who glared right back.

~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~

The next morning, I got out of bed reasonably early, my internal timer saying it was around six in the morning. James was sitting on the couch, staring at nothing in particular on the other side of the room. Quietly, I walked over and sat beside him. He hadn't said a word yesterday, too wrapped up in his own thoughts. As guilty as I felt, I wad still curious about the woman. I couldn't even remember any of her features. With that poison running through my system I was surprised I managed to remember that much.

I sat on opposite end of the couch. We didn't say a word to each other but it was still tense. I could tell that James had the day before on his mind just as I had. After a few minutes I just had to say something. "I'm so sorry," I blurted out.

James jumped and looked at me as if he'd just noticed me. "What?"

"I..." I trailed off not really sure what to say.

"You what?" he prodded.

"I'm sorry," I sighed, pulling my knees up to my chest.

"Why are you sorry?" he asked. "Did you do something that I don't know about?"

"I brought up that woman in the clearing," my cheeks flared red from the shame of my mistake.

He looked at me, his neutral expression had been warped into a confused one. "Why are you sorry about that?"

"Because," I said quietly. "It hurt you. You obviously knew her."

"I did," James said calmly. "But you have no reason to be sorry. You had no idea."

"It upset you," I sighed. "And I'm sorry for upsetting you."

I could practically feel James roll his eyes. His voice was shaking slightly as he said, "Just forget it, I wasn't upset."

I looked over at him and saw that he was looking the other way, his breathing was uneven. I didn't know what to do, but I berated myself for having worse tack than Percy. I didn't want to push him, we were mere hours from going into a hostile area, but something told me that prying might be ideal in this situation.

Taking a deep breath, I said, "Jame-" He cut me off with a searing kiss. This one seemed desperate. As if he was seeking comfort from it. My thoughts leaked out of my head as I raised my hand and touched his cheek. Only later would I marvel at the speed that he made it across the couch.

'No,' I forced myself to focus. 'He doesn't need this!' I broke away from him, gasping and probably slightly red in the face. "James," I said, tugging him toward me until he was leaning his head on my chest. "This isn't healthy. I don't want you to go to Olympus distracted."

"There's nothing wrong," he muttered, he tried to get up, but a wrapped an arm around him. He could have broken my grip easily, but he stayed anyway.

"Come on," I said. "Jamie, I know something's wrong," I ran my fingers through his hair and kissed his temple. "Please let me help."

It was a long and painful silence until...

"It was someone that died for me when I was younger," he mumbled emotionlessly. "I... I wasn't strong enough to help her and she died because of my weakness."

"James," I said holding him closer if possible. Putting two and two together, I guessed that was Sarah Tempest. "Just because she died for you doesn't make it your fault."

"How is it not my fault?" He demanded.

"Because," I said gently, "people willingly die for who they love. Your mother loved you."

"Was that supposed to make me feel better?" he asked dryly.

"No," I responded. "That's the truth. Wouldn't you die for the people you love?"

James lifted his head and looked me in the eyes. "What kind of question is that?"

I didn't answer, I just looked right back at him.

Finally he said with the most conviction I'd ever heard him use, "I would die for you."

Before I could even begin to register what he'd just said, I heard a car door slam outside.

Moments later the door opened and Zach was the first one through. His black hair was flattened down from the weather outside, and his expression was that of exasperation as he eyed James and me.

"Honestly, you two," he sighed. "Even on a serious mission, you manage to be all... mushy!"

"Mushy," McKenna asked as she came through the door, pulling the hood of her jacket down to reveal a smiling face. "Whose being mushy?"

James got off me and embraced my sister. "No one, Suave."

I got off the couch, gingerly putting weight on my bad leg so James wouldn't see me wince. Finally the last person walked into the house. She had spiky black hair and glowing bronze eyes. She smiled and rubbed her hands together. "Who's ready to stir up some trouble?"

~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~

We were all sitting around the living room, looking at a diagram of Olympus that McKenna had borrowed from Annabeth.

"Alright," Lou Ellen said. "If Morpheus is being held anywhere, it will be here," she pointed to the top left corner of the map. "That's my mother's Olympian temple. Its where our power would work the strongest."

"Are you sure?" Will questioned.

Lou Ellen nodded. "Completely. You do understand raiding Olympus is dangerous, right?"

"We were hoping for an in and out job," Skylar informed her, uncharacteristically serious.

Lou Ellen looked at all of us for a moment and sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. "I don't know if that's possible."

"Its gonna have to be," James said calmly.

She looked at him, her face deathly serious. "Look, James, I understand that you're Roman, but hear me out. This isn't going to happen by pure force of will. Olympus is insanely dangerous right now. I don't know who is going to make it back," she paused and looked around sorrowfully, "because I can promise you one thing: your tight group is going to be one hell of a lot smaller."

Silence consumed us. We knew the key to Olympus, we had to. We couldn't launch a full scale attack, we'd loose the element of surprise and we couldn't afford to give them any time for retaliation, they could move Morpheus to a more secure location and that could mean the end of us all.

"We don't have a choice," Zach said as if reading my mind. "I like the idea of going to Olympus as much as the rest of you, but if we don't, we lose all hope of the old ways and the earth will never be the same."

I managed a weak smile and said, "Have I ever told you guys how much I love you?"

"Nope, Sephy," Skylar said, slinging an arm around my shoulder, "but the feeling's mutual."

I smiled at all of them, trying not to feel as though this was the last time I was going to see them. I felt complete and loved... all the way until I heard the familiar buzzing of a drone.

**Shit's about to get real! Lol. Review?**

_**Preview:**_

_**Trying to swallow down my rising panic and anger, I began pacing back and forth, waiting for Oliver to come in. Was I afraid? Yes. Was I dreading it? Yes. Was I ready? Probably not. That didn't stop him from coming in, though.**_


	11. The Rescue

**JAMES:**

Seph stiffened and stood up. "Guys, we have a problem."

"Hm?" I asked absently.

"Run into the back woods," she commanded, rising to her feet, a steely look in her eyes. "Now."

"Why," I said, rising right beside her. That was when I sensed the vibrations in the air.

"Drones," I answered my own question.

"Go," she snapped. "I'll keep then busy."

"No!" I said defiantly.

"Yes," she replied impatiently. "Now."

"Seph," I warned.

"Will, Zach," she said. "Get him. Go. They won't kill me immediately. Just... get there in time."

I took a step forward, but before I could move, Zach and Will were there they grabbed me by the shoulders and dragged me down the hall that Seph gestured to. I fought them, but it was too much, I was out the door and into the forest. Will literally tackled me and held me down, Skylar placed her hand over my mouth as I squirmed. "Be quiet, we're gonna get her back."

**SEPH:**

I looked around the room and flinched slightly as the door was knocked down. I sincerely hoped that the others had made it out. I saw Oliver at the head of the line. As soon as he saw me, he faltered in step. I pulled out my sword and willed the water from outside to pour in through the door, blinding them. I used their moment of pause for my moment of attack.

My sword went up and caught Oliver on his chest, clashing against something metal underneath his black shirt... probably armor. That didn't stop it from hurting him. He went down crying out. I saw blood on my blade, hopefully I had managed a good enough cut. More and more people stormed through the door, blinded by the water. I was getting revitalized by it, but by the sixth man I'd taken down, I realized that I wasn't going to be able to keep it up for much longer.

That thought was proven correct when two burly men managed to squeeze through the door and surrounded me. More people poured in and I circled around, looking at my odds against ten people who haven't been fighting for their lives.

Pressing my lips together in a thin line, I took a deep breath through my nose, turned my sword into a bracelet, dropped it to the ground, and nodded while putting my hands into the air...

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

When I woke up, I had no idea where I was, but I knew I wasn't any place friendly. Ignoring the harsh pounding in my head where I'd been struck, I looked around. I was laying on a very thin and uncomfortable cot in an otherwise bare room. It was small and square, the grey cement blocks along with no windows made me feel as if I was being encased in a box, it didn't help that it was only lit by one dim light bulb. There was one door, it was wooden with steel bars across it, sending out a crystal clear message: no escaping.

The pitter patter of footsteps outside, let me know that someone was guarding me. I was glad that my assumption was proven correct. I was mostly guessing and trying to convince James to leave.

I let out a few whispered curses as I sat up. My head started pounding and I winced. As if they knew (thinking back on it, they probably did), the door opened. Elizabeth walked in along with another guy with the helmet on and a spear in hand.

"Persephone," she said with a large mocking smile. "How nice to see you!"

"Wish I could say the same," I informed her dryly.

Elizabeth looked completely neutral. I had no idea what effect my remark had on her. "Jared," she said, I was guessing that was the guy with the helmet on. "Please restrain her. She is to be taken to field B, room A. Oliver is going to conduct some interrogation... we need to find out where they are before we execute the rebel."

Jared nodded and walked over. I didn't bother resisting as he restrained my wrists with rope. "I hope you rot in hell," I informed her. "And you'll go there before I tell you anything."

"Let's see if you say that after Oliver is through with you." She smirked. "Don't worry, we'll make sure your pretty face is recognizable. James will probably want to see it when we find him."

With those comforting words, I was shoved forward roughly, walking toward my awaiting torturer.

**SKYLAR:**

We didn't release James until I saw the Tyrants walk off with a limp Seph in their arms. They got into their car and drove away. Will got off James and he got up, his eyes shined with pure anger and the look of betrayal. As bad as I felt, that made me feel worse.

"Alright," Lou Ellen said. "Its time we went."

We all walked to the front yard and to the car. Will got into the driver's side and Zach got into his. We were going to need two cars to escape if something went wrong. I sat in the back with James, who was silent and his mood alone made the ride awkward and intense.

We stopped about a block from the Empire State Building, the only building in the city that hadn't endured dramatic damage.

I got out and closed the door, wincing as the sound echoed off the broken walls of decaying skyscrapers. Will walked over to me and together we reached the other car, the broken glass and obliterated bricks crunching under our feet. James followed us in silence. We met the others halfway and stopped for a moment.

"Alright," Lou Ellen said. "We should probably split up. No boyfriends and girlfriends in groups together. It might compromise the mission too much."

I couldn't help but look at her shocked. She never struck me as much of a leader, but she was being one then. James decided that was the time to speak out. "Lou, I respect you, but I'm going after Seph."

"I know," she responded. "You and Skylar could do that. You guys work really well together."

I nodded as she said, "I will go with McKenna. Will, Zach. You two need to find the security systems, cameras, the works. Disable them."

We all nodded and began the longest walk of my life. When we reached the building, I sighed and looked around. Two people were outside guarding, but that looked to be it. We were on the opposite side of the street completely hidden from sight. I was about to ask what how they wanted to handle them when Will and McKenna already had their bows out, aiming their arrows.

"I'll get the one on the left," McKenna muttered."

"Fine by me," he replied. They released their arrows and a second later, I heard the sound of two bodies hitting the ground.

We all walked forward tensely. As soon as we made it in, I was sure that at least the lobby was empty... thievery skills.

"Wait, how do we get up?" Zach asked.

"Give me a moment," I said, running back outside. I went to the nearest guard. In his front pocket sat the key. I didn't look at him long enough to feel bad about his demise. I grabbed it and ran back in. I walked to the elevator and pressed the up button, the others behind me.

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

**SEPH:**

I shoved into a large and dark room, I trilled over my feet and fell onto my hands and knees. Ignoring the pain, I got to my knees and noticed, with dry humor, that my impending death would happen in a place with windows. It was damp with water trickling on the floor, it was lit by the naturally gloomy light from the outside. It wasn't very large, maybe ten feet all the way across, and a square. The ever-present grey bricks were starting to get annoying.

Trying to swallow down my rising panic and anger, I began pacing back and forth, waiting for Oliver to come in. Was I afraid? Yes. Was I dreading it? Yes. Was I ready? Probably not. That didn't stop him from coming in, though.

The door opened and shut as I was pacing away from the only exit. I didn't turn around, but Oliver's voice was unmistakable. The hairs on the back of my neck stood strait up at the sound. "Back from the dead, are we? I have to admit, I thought you'd have been rotting with your father by now."

I stood stiffly facing away from him near the other wall. I didn't grace him with an answer. I heard his footsteps as he came closer to me. I resisted a shudder as his breath came into contact with my neck and he whispered into my ear, "I'm glad. It gives me more time with you."

I wanted to jump away from him, but I refused to give him the satisfaction. I just stood there, hoping he would back off.

A few seconds later he did. "So you're the all business type. I see. I'll have you know that your little sword cut that you gave me to my chest is an enormous pain. Needless to say we aren't on the best terms. So just answer my questions and let us be done with this... if not, I swear you'll wish you'd never been born."

He gestured to a chair that was sitting in the far corner of the room. I hadn't noticed it before then. "Please, sit."

"Oliver," I said, turning around and looking at him.

"The lady speaks," Oliver exclaimed.

"Look. I'm not going to tell you anything. You know that and I know that." I looked him deep in the eye. "Is there any point in doing this?"

Oliver smiled. "You'll find your tongue a lot looser when we're through."

~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~

SKYLAR:

We made it to the top and out of the elevator without opposition. I was surprised that there wasn't a horde of monsters surrounding us at the elevator. We stepped out and we were about to go our separate ways when I felt the urge to look at Will one last time.

He was staring back with a half smile. "Good luck," he murmured.

I took a step forward and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him forward, pressing my lips to his. "Good luck," I replied, ignoring the others around me.

After that, we split up, James and I quickly went toward the direction where their prison was rumored to be. Supposedly it was Zeus' temple. The traitorous sons of Hephaestus had apparently remodeled it and turned it into a prison, some symbolism for both sides.

"You do know where your father's Temple is, right?" I asked James.

"Zeus," James replied, saying his name as if it was a disease, "is not my father. He is an ass. But yes, I know where it is."

I heard voices coming from around the corner of what used to be a shrine to Artemis. James was already in motion. He pulled me by my wrist, we hid in the ally between to deserted homes.

"...going to attack soon," a guy with a seriously deep voice said. "Apparently that son of Apollo is interrogating her. Daughter of Poseidon or not, we all know how torturous his methods are."

I felt James stiffen up beside me. I had a feeling that he was moments from going up, murdering all of the people talking, keep one alive and demand the location... bodies in the streets equaled unwanted attention.

I placed a hand on his arm in a 'keep calm' kind of way. The soldiers passed by us, completely oblivious to our presence. As soon as they walked around the corner, we got up and started walking forward again, even quicker than our already fast pace. If Oliver hurt Seph, I was going to rip him limb from limb... that was if he survived the thrashing he was going to receive from James.

MCKENNA:

Walking down the dismal streets of Olympus was severely depressing. Okay, so we weren't walking, more like springing from house to house, straining our senses trying to find any hostilities. Our progress was painfully slow, several times we had to duck into alleyways because people were walking down the streets in groups.

On one of those occasions was when things started going wrong. We didn't hide quickly enough, one man out of a group of five saw us. In an alley between two homes was not an ideal place for a fight... especially when we were outnumbered by over two to one and we were the ones that were cornered. The Tyrants crept forward, smirking... arrogant assholes.

I whipped out my sword and beckoned them forward. Two burly guys came at me, I rolled under the first hit, hearing Lou Ellen's knife clash with it, I came to my knees and knocked his legs out from under him, when he was on the ground I knocked him on the head with the hilt of my sword, knocking him out. Another goon was coming at me, swinging a disturbingly sharp knife. I ducked and he missed by a lot less room than I would have liked. I saw Lou Ellen run forward, she tackled him from the side, ramming him into a brick wall head first. I recovered quickly from the shock of near death and disarmed the last guy, walking up to him, I grabbed him by the shirt collar and slammed him into the wall behind him. I didn't know what I was about to say, but it got caught in my throat as I recognized him. It was Sherman, son of Ares.

His eyes were normally brown but for some reason they were bluer than James'. He was a lot of things, but being a traitor wasn't his style. Lou Ellen didn't seem to have any qualms with knocking him out. Her knife hilt found the back of his head, his eyes rolled back and he slumped slumped to the ground.

Lou leaned down and examined him. Checking his pulse rate, skin tone, and the shade of blue his eyes were. "Dear gods," she breathed. "This is worse than I feared."

**WILL:**

Finding the security room in Olympus wasn't going to be easy. Why would it? We split up from the others and raced toward the Throne room. It was our best bet to find it. As I looked up, I saw that the sun was already high in the sky. A lot of time had passed, I hoped that they had already found Seph.

Our destination was the closest, but as I saw the guards standing in front of the grand building, I cursed under my breath. Why me? There had to be ten or so of them.

"How are we going to do this?" I asked.

"Simple," Zach said. "I'm going to distract them, and you're going to get in."

I looked at him, assessing his sanity. "You've lost it," I concluded. "Seph's already been captured. We dont need another one."

Zach looked me in the eyes and asked, steel in his voice, "So you've got a better idea?"

**I hope you have enjoyed this chapter!**

_**Preview:**_

_**Oliver's voice came out a moment later, "Now tell me where they are, damn it! Or would you prefer another stab wound to match?"**_


	12. The Rescue Part II

JAMES:

We made it into the newer version of Zeus' temple. It looked nothing like before. First off, it was much larger and when we walked in, I was hit with a long, wide hallway. Everything was long, grey, and cement... my idea of a great time. I beckoned Skylar forward. "Come on," I said. "We have a lot to search."

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

We'd been walking for maybe thirty minutes, the hall had twisted and turned, opening into different rooms, sections and portions. But there was no sign of Seph. We'd agreed on taking a direct route to the center, figuring that the control room would be there. I would love to say that our skills got us there unscathed and we rescued her without a single problem.

No one would believe it though. So here's what really happened:

Skylar and I made it to the end of the ridiculously long hallway. There was a metal door at the end. There was a electronic lock designed by one of the Hephaestus kids. Skylar looked closely at it and said, "Its deactivated!"

It should have shot off all sorts of red flags. It didn't. Instead...

"You're serious?" I questioned. She nodded. Not even questioning the convenience, I pushed at the door and it easily opened. The whole room was decked out with bronze instruments, monitors, and a lot of buttons.

"Control room?" I asked, walking in slowly.

"Control room," Skylar agreed, coming in behind me. "Lets see what we can find."

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

It took us maybe ten minutes to find what we were looking for. Well... more like hear it. A scream of agony. The voice was unmistakable. A cold fist closed around my heart as I furiously looked for the monitor that cast the offending noise.

Oliver's voice came out a moment later, "Now tell me where they are, damn it! Or would you prefer another stab wound to match?"

Skylar was looking at a monitor on the opposite side of the room. "Field B," she muttered. "Seph's in field B!"

"Then what the hell are we waiting for?" I demanded.

Now this is where everything went wrong...

As we dashed out of the control room, a sense of dread filled me to the brim. Maybe twenty feet away from us, a iron wall slammed down, and the door to the control room shut, leaving us trapped.

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

**ZACH:**

I eyed Will as the son of Apollo started thinking and hard. His eyes went from defiance, to desperation, to anger, and finally resignation. "McKenna will kill me," he groaned. "Let me go instead."

"And get murdered by Skylar?" I demanded. "No thanks. Anyways, you've been in Olympus more than I have. You know the place better."

Will set his jaw. "You're fifteen! I'm twenty. How can I morally let you do this?"

"This isn't about morals," I informed him. "We don't have a choice. Suck it up, and make damn sure you save me before they kill me. I want to keep my memories, thank you very much."

Before he could make another argument, I ran out of our hiding place and took out my sword. I wasn't in the mood for messing around. When I reached the first guy, I swung my sword to meet the one that was aimed at my head, shoving it out of the way, I rammed my shoulder into his chest, knocking him to the ground. Before I could get another swing in, the other nine surrounded me. Trying to hide my smirk, I dropped my weapon and held my hands up.

The guards came up and grabbed it, knocking me over, I felt a hard blow against the back of my head. Immediately my vision went black. Before I lost all of my senses completely, I heard a guy say. "There's bound to be more, check the cameras and alert Elizabeth!"

As I was picked up by my arms and dragged forward, I blacked out completely.

**MCKENNA:**

"What is Sherman doing here?" I demanded shakily.

"He isn't here voluntarily," Lou said gravely. "This is a potion. He's been brainwashed, so to speak."

"Brainwashed," I repeated. "We need to find Morpheus. Now."

She nodded. "Let's get moving."

Moving at a faster pace than ever, we made our way toward the temple.

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

We sat outside Hecate's temple, staring at it in dismay. Two guards were watching the door, while more were coming, ten or twenty of them, there was no way we could take them all. Taking a deep breath, I looked over at Lou. "You have to get in there," I said.

Lou Ellen nodded. I placed my face in my hands and sighed heavily. "Look, I can wipe them out. There's a salt water spring a block behind us. I'll create a flash flood. It'll probably kill them and it will drain all of my energy. When the guards are gone, run in. Don't stop."

Lou nodded in understanding. Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, I took a step out, bracing myself for the stupidity of my stunt.

The guards lined the walls, guarding them and the higher up windows of the red and black stoned fortress. As soon as they saw me, they smiled. "Excuse me, miss. This is restricted land. Go back to where you came from before we arrest you."

I didn't move backward. I walked toward them, my fists clenched, and my gut tugging out for the saltwater. The guard frowned at me, and walked forward. The water wasn't coming as fast as I would hoped. "Say," he said. "Are you deaf? I told you to scram!"

I tried for a friendly smile, but it might have come out more hostile than companionable. He took a good look at me and frowned, one of his eyebrows raised. "You look familiar... I don't think I've seen you around here before though."

I just kept smiling, as I felt the water rushing toward me. "No, but I imagine you know my sister."

Before he could question me further, water hit him and the others like a freight train. Even with all of the water hitting me, I still felt myself weakening. Not two seconds after the water stopped shooting through, did I see no guards left and Lou Ellen darting toward the entrance. Before I could do or register anything else, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I collapsed to the ground, out cold.

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

**SKYLAR:**

Immediately, the two of us dashed forward. As soon as we got to the bars, we tugged on them, trying to get them to move. "Great," I snapped. "Just great!"

James slipped to the ground and put his head in his hands. "Why do I even try?" he murmured.

Oh no. He was giving up. James couldn't give up, because if he gave up then I would give up. And if I gave up then we were both in trouble. The thought of coming that far and being that close only to give up made my angry. I was not a pleasant person angry.

"You want to know why you bother?" I snapped. "Because the girl that you love happens to be in bondage, and is being tortured for information! We have maybe ten minutes to save her life, and you sitting there is doing nothing to help the situation. Now get off your ass and do something, before I kick it!"

He looked at me, his eyes in a daze. "What?"

"Get up. Or Seph is going to die."

Immediately he snapped back into a sharp awareness and said, "Fine. What do we have to do?"

I smiled, about to answer him when I heard Oliver's voice. "That is a great question, James." I immediately looked up for the source of the noise. A bronze speaker was on the roof. "I would suggest surrendering. The iron gates slid up, allowing us to go past them.

"Not going to happen," I called, walking forward, feeling completely nervous.

"In that case," Oliver sneered. "I can assure you that you won't make it out of the building alive."

As if to emphasize his point, fifteen or so dracane and a small pack of hellhounds came out as a previously invisible door opened in the wall. "Oliver," I said loudly. "I hope you know where you can shove that assurance."

There was a cold chuckle from the speaker and then a call out, "Guys!" It was Seph. "Skylar, James! Run! Get out-"

She was cut off by a loud slapping noise. Oliver's voice came back on. "I hope you have fun!"

There was a click and the speaker was disabled.

"James," I said, raising my dagger. "You ready for some practice?"

"I prefer the term anger alleviation," he informed me.

SEPH:

Once Oliver turned off the speaker, I knew I was in trouble. He turned around and looked at me with startling malice. He smiled a severely twisted smile, and called out, "Jared!"

Jared came scrambling in, standing straight up, as if it made him look professional. "Grab some ambrosia, and get me Valerie. It's about time to end this stupid brigade."

Jared nodded and ran out, apparently overly eager to impress Oliver. The scarred son of Apollo slowly walked over to me, smiling. "Persephone Current," he sighed, pulling one of the sleeves of my shirts up to my mid arm and left my wrist exposed. "Its a shame to say this, but our time together is slowly coming to an end." He stroked my cheek with a long and skinny finger before leaning down and whispering, "And I do hope you will enjoy killing your boyfriend."

I was silent as my heart started beating faster. "How am I going to kill him?" I asked. "I'm tied to a friggin chair!"

Oliver smiled coldly at me, but before he could answer, Jared was in along with who I was assuming was Valerie. He had ambrosia in his hands and Valerie had a needle and syringe in her hand. It was filled with thick blue liquid. "I figured you wanted the solution," she said to him.

"You are correct as usual," Oliver said smiling. Both Valerie and Jared walked over, bringing Oliver the contents in their hands.

Oliver grabbed the ambrosia first. "Here," he said, putting it in front of my face.

I looked up at him in a 'Are you kidding me?' kind of way.

"Look," Oliver said simply. "I've cut and stabbed you in some areas that aren't the best for your health. Either you eat the ambrosia or you bleed out. Your choice."

I looked at him, hatred boiling hot in my blood. When I opened mouth to tell him 'not interested', he all but rammed the ambrosia down my throat. Despite the obvious pain relief that I felt, I still spat curses at him. Oliver merely smiled as if he got a kick out of my anger.

"Valerie," he said softly, holding his hand out. Valerie placed the syringe in his palm. Oliver injected the solution in my arm. Immediately I felt burning pain rush through my system. I fought the urge to scream as Oliver cut the ropes. I fell to the ground, writhing in pain. I felt someone kneel behind me, I knew it was Oliver as he whispered into my ear, "James Tempest and his allies are your enemies, kill him and the rest of them at any cost."

I was too busy curled into a shaking ball in agony to pay him any attention. I subconsciously heard footsteps and a door slam. I was in the room alone in too much pain to even consider trying to escape.

**I hope you liked the chapter. My internet is being stupid, so I don't know exactly when I will be able to update, but I will whenever I get the chance. I promise.**

_**Preview:**_

_**I looked at Seph, who had stopped moving. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing slowed. She cocked her head to the side and opened her eyes... her bright blue eyes. **_


	13. Infiltration

**JAMES:**

My anger alleviation was working perfectly. Skylar's back was pressed against mine as we faced off against the horrors around us. _Slash, hack, duck, kick, slash, hack, duck, kick_... those were the only thoughts going through my head. Eventually I was running out of monsters to attack. My last snake woman turned into a dust with a screech. A hellhound pounced, but I almost lazily clicked my sword into the air and caught it on the stomach. It yelped before exploding. Turning around, I saw that Skylar had just killed her last opponent, it turning to dust and falling to the floor as I watched. It left us completely alone in the hallway.

We didn't waste any time, Skylar touched my arm and said, "Let's go!" She raced off, me hot on her heels.

We took off for the next hall, Skylar leading the way with her uncanny tracking skills. Rooms and hallways full of people zoomed by, no one bothered to so much a look up from their work. Any other time I might have been offended, but the memory of Seph's scream would pierce through my brain and I would start running even faster than I was before, thankful that they didn't pay me a bit of attention.

My legs started to cramp, my lungs were burning and I felt as though I had ten stitches in my side instead of just one. I ignored it all, knowing that making it to Seph was so much more important than a little pain.

Skylar didn't seem to have the same qualms, being a child of Hermes made running almost effortless. She bounded down what seemed to be the tenth identical grey hallway easily, with me at her heels. She skidded to a halt abruptly as we came into a huge round room, surrounded by maybe twenty metal doors.

"Field B," she murmured. "She's here somewhere."

I heard the faint sound of sniffling, and a groan of pain. I knew the person making them. I turned toward the source of the noise and saw that it was room A. I ran forward, Skylar at my heels. I tried for the door and saw with a start that it was unlocked. I wrenched it open and ran inside. What I saw made my heart freeze over and climb its way to my throat. Seph was laying on the floor, curled in a ball, crying.

"Seph," I said, sitting down beside her and pulling her on to my lap. "Baby, are you okay?"

She continued to shake, sobbing, and remained completely unresponsive. "Seph," I coaxed, running a hand through her matted hair as I held her against my chest, allowing her to bury her face into the crook of my neck. I felt hot tears hit my shirt. "Sweetheart, you have to tell me where it hurts."

"Everywhere," she breathed, sobbing.

I pulled her closer, and she clung to my neck, her fingers digging into my shoulders as she cried. I looked up and saw Skylar standing there, shaking and pale. She was holding a syringe in her hand. "It was on the ground," she said gravely. There was some blue residue left on the sides, it gave me a bad feeling.

"On shit," Skylar muttered, sniffing it slightly. "I know what this is! The Hecate cabin used this on mine one time."

"What?" I demanded.

"I don't know exactly what it's called, but once its injected into your system, they tell you what to do, and its painful at first, as if your body's on fire, you can't do much but writhe around in pain. The pain subsides eventually, but after a few minutes you won't be in control of yourself."

"What do you mean by that?" I demanded as Seph continued to shudder against me.

"After a few minutes," Skylar said, looking at me gravely, "she's going to do what it is she was ordered to do. We both know who gave her that potion. Does it take an idiot to figure it out?"

"James," I heard Seph's weak voice murmur.

I didn't give her a chance to continue. "Shh, baby. You don't need to talk." I pressed my lips to her temple comfortingly, and I tried to hide how scared I was.

"James," she tried again. "Listen. Leave me, you need to go."

"You're not in your right mind," I told her gently, rubbing her back. "You know I'll never leave you."

"I'm going to have to kill you," she managed. "Please, go."

I pressed my lips against her cheek, taking a deep breath as she confirmed my worst fear. "I can't leave you here," I said.

She pushed herself back so she could look at me. Her bright green eyes seemed to be getting a slightly blue hue to them. Something told me it was a bad thing. She leaned forward and kissed me, bringing her hand up to my head and placing it on my cheek. When she pulled back, her eyes were even bluer than before. "James," she said, "I love you. You know that. I can feel it starting to creep in. Go," she said, pushing herself up and off of me, standing and stumbling over to the opposite wall.

I jumped to my feet and walked toward her slowly, Skylar by my side. Seph shook her head, her voice was strained. "I can't fight it much longer... Skylar, get him the hell out of here!"

I felt Skylar tug on my arm, but I shrugged her off. "Damn it, James!" Skylar shrieked. "You no good to anybody dead!"

I looked at Seph, who had stopped moving. Her eyes were closed, and her breathing slowed. She cocked her head to the side and opened her eyes... her bright blue eyes.

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

**WILL:**

As soon as Zach was dragged off, I snuck in. The rest of the guards (obviously none of them were children of Athena) walked around, searching for accomplices, leaving the building completely unguarded. I quietly ran forward, glad that Skylar had taken me on some of her pranking missions. As soon as I got past the doors, they closed behind me. Electricity buzzed through the room I was in... it was nothing like the last time I was there.

Everything was grey and cement. Nothing was colorful. As I slowly walked forward, I realized that what I was looking at was supposed to be a prison block. There were cells along the walls. I saw a bunch of minor gods chained to walls, their powers gone for some reason. I didn't know what to do. Feeling slightly unsteady, I walked over to a cell with a beautiful woman in it. Her eyes were trained on me wearily. "What do you want?" she asked harshly.

"I'm not here to hurt you. I want to help," I replied.

"Ha," she spat harshly. "Look what you filthy Tyrants have done! Its a bit late for that now, don't you think?"

"You've got it all wrong," I said quickly.

"Really," she asked in a bored voice. "Do explain."

"I'm not a Tyrant, they've kidnapped two friends of mine. We're here to get them back and free Morpheus," I told her, looking her in the eye to convey my honesty.

The woman looked at me skeptically, but apparently she sensed truth, because she said, "Very well, what do you need?"

"The control room," I admitted. "I imagine its in here. We're trying to get rid of their camera as fast as possible."

"Good plan," she said nodding. "Yes, I've heard some of the Tyrants talking about controls as they walked through that door," she pointed to a steel door on the opposite side of the room. "I think the door scans your thumbprint though..."

I managed a smile as I looked at her, "No worries, my girlfriend's a daughter of Hermes, she always gives me mischievous gifts." I reached into my quiver and pulled out a seemingly normal arrow, but the small S that was on the tip told me it was Skylar's gift. I took aim at the thumbprint scanner. Allowing myself a small smile, I released the arrow and watched it lodge itself inside the now smoking device. A few seconds later the door opened, a voice saying 'access granted,' as it did so.

"I'll be right back," I said to her, loudly enough for the rest of them to hear as well. "I promise."

I ran off into the large dimly lit hallway. The whole building was uniformed grey and dreary. The silence was eerie when the only sounds echoing off the walls were of my feet hitting the ground. There were doors all around me on either side of the ridiculously long hall. I noticed that they each had two names on them, I saw some of the opened ones and realized that they were bedrooms. In the back of my mind I questioned the designer of the building. Who puts a control room in a hallway with a bunch of sleeping rooms?

Ignoring my own dry humor, I ran forward. Of course no mission would be complete without dumbass opposition. I was rushing forward when I saw the end of the hall. Two scrawny 'guards' were in front of another metal door, their spears were aimed at my chest as they threw them. Immediately I ducked and rolled under them, landing in a kneeling position, I already had my bow ready to fire an arrow. This time an explosive arrow. 'Twang' the arrow shot through the room and landed directly between both people. They glanced down at it before looking up at me and laughing.

I blame Skylar for my sense of humor. I smiled at them sarcastically before flipping them off. Before either of them could do anything, the arrow detonated. Anything within a ten foot radius was blasted away, the two guards were slammed on to either wall. I walked forward and checked the guard closest to the door and found the key card, immediately I swiped the card in the lock and the door came open.

I walked in slowly and was greeted by an empty room full of bronze devices, filled with switches, buttons, and dials. I knew what none of them did, so I took the safe route. Taking one of my last explosive arrows, I shot it into what looked to be the main controls. It started sparking even before the explosion set off. I didn't stand around to watch the fireworks, I ran out of the room just in time. I actually flew into the air a few inches, the heat searing my back. I landed roughly on the floor. Groaning slightly, I sat up, rubbing my head. When I opened my eyes I was greeted with a dark room, light coming from the control room. Getting to my feet, I stumbled over and inspected my work. The whole room was seared black, all of the electronics were obliterated, small fires littering the room, and I highly doubted even the Hephaestus kids could fix that without a bit of time.

I took one last glance around before fighting that I had maybe five minutes before the room would be swarmed with Tyrants. Zach needed my help anyway. I spun around and ran back the way I came.

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~ **

**ZACH:**

When I woke up, I realized three facts at once.

First fact:

I was sitting up. When I opened my eyes, and saw that I was in a chair, my arms were laying on the arms, bound by bronze rope.

Second fact:

I wasn't in the throne room, which was a relief. Wherever I was, Will wasn't which meant he was successful with sneaking in.

The walls around me were made out of grey cement blocks, the floor was slightly wet, a couple of puddles were on the rough-looking surface.

Third fact:

I wasn't alone. A familiar girl with mid length black hair was laying down on the floor. She wasn't moving, but I saw the shallow movements in her back... she was breathing at least.

The girl groaned and moved slightly in her slumber. Her face was exposed and my heart sank as I realized that she was McKenna. I started shaking in my seat, struggling to move forward. I couldn't though. The rope seemed to bind my hands and feet too firmly for movement.

Cursing the people who hurt us up and down straight to Hades, I sat there waiting for something to happen. And just when I thought things couldn't get much worse, and anxiety was going to take me over, the lights went out. Will had made it. Despite the dire situation I managed to grin. I didn't get captured in vain.

**I hope you enjoyed the chapter. If you find anything unsatisfactory please don't be afraid to tell me. I want to make this story as good as possible. :)**

_**Preview:**_

_**"That's not your girlfriend anymore," I said, eying her every move. "Just fight her. You'll have her back. Olympus is more important than her memories. What would Seph tell you to do?"**_


	14. The not so Great Escape

**SKYLAR:**

To say that I was scared would have been an understatement. My best friend, who happened to be a daughter of Poseidon, was no longer herself. Her now bright blue eyes studied us with interest and malice. I took an instinctive step backward. "James," I said. "We've gotta go."

"You're not going anywhere," Seph snapped. Her voice didn't sound any different than it normally did, but the cruel smile on her face was completely alien.

Panic rose in my throat, but it was nothing compared to what I felt after she pulled her bracelet off her wrist and it turned it into a sword. That's when I realized that it wasn't Seph that we were fighting. It was the potion, and that potion had no qualms with running us through with that sword. I pulled out my dagger, my eyes never leaving Seph. "What the hell are you doing?" it was James.

"I don't know about you, but I don't want to be impaled today," I responded.

"We are not fighting Seph!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, you are," Seph said, stepping forward, smirking.

"That's not your girlfriend anymore," I said, eying her every move. "Just fight her. You'll have her back. Olympus is more important than her memories. What would Seph tell you to do?"

James didn't have time to respond, Seph smirked and swung her blade at him, he jumped backward, narrowly dodging it. His eyes changed from confused and concerned to angry. "I'm going to kill Oliver!"

"I'll hold him down for you," I responded, swinging my dagger at a open spot at Seph's side, she almost lazily deflected it, ramming her elbow into my side, knocking me backward onto the rough ground. James had ran forward, swinging at her left side, Seph seemed to anticipate the move, because she manuvered out of the way, letting James turn with the momentum. She swung her sword, attempting to slice into his back, I was there before it could make contact. The sword slammed into my dagger with enough force to make me wince at the thought of it slicing through James' back. Before she could move her blade again, I kicked my foot out, bringing her's out from under her. She hit the ground with a thud, but didn't hesitate to roll out of the way of another sword strike by James. James let go of the sword and tackled her to the ground. Both of them squirmed and rolled around the room. All I could do was watch, afraid of helping in case I hurt James.

After a moment, James managed to knock her sword out of her hand, but she managed to put a lot more strength into a shove with her shoulder than I thought was possible, rolling so that she was on top of him. I saw his head slam into the ground, the sound echoed throughout the room. I panicked, thinking that James was down, but he grabbed her arms none too gently and used her momentum to roll over, locking her arms over her head, and effectively pinning her to the ground. As much as she squirmed, she couldn't move out from under him, his strength more than a match for her.

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, so of course, something had to go wrong. The power went out unexpectedly, leavng only the dim light coming from the small windows. It caused James to jump, Seph took that as a window to shove him off of her, she got up, an angry light in her eyes, she dove for her sword, but I rammed into her first. Both of us went rolling, the rough and uneven floor was painful against my back and arms as she pinned me down. I'd be damned if I was going to go out without a fight. My leg kicked up, landing in the lower portion of her back. She jolted slightly, allowing me to be able to shove her out of the way.

She rolled over, stopping beside James, who was stumbling to his feet, blood trickling down his neck from the back of his head. He seemed disoriented, but when he jumped at Seph, he was balanced well enough. She rolled out of the way, landing by her weapon. "No!" I shouted, jumping forward. It was too late, she smirked, her hand on her sword. She jumped to her feet and slashing at me, I barely blocked her first blow, I was so lucky for the second. I felt the blade sink into the flesh of my side, I cried out in pain. Seph elbowed my stomach, and I fell to my knees, clutching my side. My breaths were coming out in ragged gasps, and I looked up at Seph who was smiling at me cruelly.

I knew the wound was fatal, I could feel my life seeping away, my eyesight dimming at an alarming rate. I looked up and Seph raising her sword for the final blow.

**JAMES:**

I didn't have a choice. Seph's sword was baring down on Skylar way too fast for me to make it. I didn't think as my sword dropped out of my head and hit the ground with a clatter that I didn't even hear. My arm shot forward and bolts of electricity shot through my fingers and straight into Seph's back. She started shaking violently before falling on to the ground in an unmoving heap.

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

**WILL:**

I ran back into the front room. All of the cells were open, and the gods and goddesses were out, half of them seemed to be gone, but the one that I talked to was still there. I walked over to her. She smiled at me and said thank you.

"You're welcome," I replied. "I can't stick around, though."

"I know," she said. "I'm headed over to my temple. I believe my daughter could use some help."

"You're Hecate?" I questioned.

The woman nodded. "You're going to want to go over to field B. I'm afraid that one of your friends has been affected by a mind control potion. The rest of them are probably in trouble from it."

"Thank you," I said, bowing, before darted out of the building.

The outside was chaos. Guards were running everywhere, so intent on whatever their destination was, that they didn't pay me a bit of attention. So I was able to slip behind the large building and run toward Zeus' temple at top speed. As I sped there, no one questioned my presence, they were too preoccupied with the darkness that consumed the Olympian grounds.

Needless to say it made my trip much faster than I had anticipated. I crouched behind a statue of the king of the Olympian gods, peering around to get a good look at what I was up against. There were two guards standing guard outside the doors. I briefly considered trying to sneak past them, but almost immediately discarded the idea, mind control potion sounded bad. Aiming an arrow at the closest one, I shot him, taking him down instantly. The remaining guard jumped, his sword out of its sheath instantly. Of course I left the tall and burly one standing.

"Don't move," I growled, walking away from my hiding place, my arrow aimed at his right eye. "Let's get one thing straight. I want to kill you as much as you want to die. So you do what I say, you keep your life, you don't, I make you wish that you had your partners fate."

The soldier nodded. "Good," I said coldly, "we understand each other. Drop the sword."

It hit the ground with a clatter. "Take me to field B. Now. I don't want any detours. If it takes more than seven minutes to reach, I won't hesitate to run you through with this arrow." He must have figured that I meant business, because he hurriedly opened the door and walked forward. The opening hallway was large, endlessly long, and grey. My kind of place (please note sarcasm).

The guard led me down the hallway, light filtering in through the few small windows that were on the left side of the hallway. It was still incredibly dark for the most part. After what felt like the fifteenth turn, and the fifteenth new hallway, we came to a large circular room, filled with maybe twenty rooms, but I could hear the yelling coming out of the one that I needed to go in. Pulling out my dagger, I knocked the guard in the back of the head with it, I couldn't afford any distractions.

Not wasting another second, I dashed inside the only open door, what I saw scared me, angered me, and confused me. James was the closest to me, blood pouring from the back of his head, his hand was in front of him, shooting electricity at Seph, who was standing over a profusely bleeding Skylar with her sword raised. As the daughter of Poseidon fell to the ground, obviously dead, silence consumed the room. James fell to his knees in despair from what he had just done. I didn't know what had happened before I showed up, all I knew was that my girlfriend was on the ground bleeding.

I rushed over to her, I dropped down to my knees, and placed pressure on the freely bleeding wound. She looked up at me, much paler than she had been when I had last saw her. I looked down at the still rapidly growing pool of blood around her, and tried my best not to grimace. Footsteps were behind me, I turned around and saw James there, his expression was unreadable as he knelt down and pressed on Skylar's wounds. "Get something to stop this bleeding," he snapped.

I hurriedly dug through my bag, desperately thinking of ambrosia. "Stop, Will," Skylar croaked.

"Shut up," James growled. "You're in no condition to talk!"

Skylar ignored him as she continued. "You won't find any help from Apollo. He's already helped me already."

"No," I said savagely, "you're going to be okay. My dad wouldn't let you die on me."

"Will, it'll take too long," she said, her hand catching mine in a feeble grip. "Go," she breathed. "Get Morpheus, its the only way to save me or Seph."

"I can't just leave you," I said. "Not again."

"I'm done," she groaned, hissing in pain. "Just go! James..."

James nodded. I leaned down and pressed my lips against hers forcefully. "I love you, Skylar."

"I love you too," she breathed. Before either of us could say anything, James was there. He placed an arm under my arm pit and it wrapped around my chest, his hand on my shoulder. He dragged me out of the room as I stared at my dying girlfriend numbly.

"Damn it, Will," James snapped gripping the front of my shirt and shaking me roughly, "get a grip! We're gonna get her back! She'll be better off without memories of this hell anyways!"

I shook my head and allowed anger to seep through me. I shoved James away from me, "What the hell happened?"

"Oliver injected Seph with some kind of drug," James said, electricity crackling visibly from his skin, the only sign of his agitation. "She was in an unbelievable amount of pain, but then she changed, her eyes went blue and she turned murderous." He looked away from me and toward the end of the hallway, "That's... that's why I had to kill her."

**MCKENNA:**

When I woke up, I was unbelievably tired, and very, very sore. I thought back to what I remembered last. I had been with Lou Ellen... that was right, I flash flooded the place as a distraction. I opened my eyes and took in my surroundings. I was on a very uncomfortable floor, I blinked my eyes hard, trying to fend off the exhaustion that I had been feeling. I lifted my head to survey the room around me. There was water on the floor, which was the only reason that I had gotten enough energy to wake up.

"McKenna," a voice came from my right. I turned my head and saw Zach. He was tied to a chair, and with his hands bound, I seriously doubted he would be going anywhere anytime soon without my help.

"Hey, Zach," I groaned, managing to stumble to my feet. "You have any idea what happened?"

"None," he replied softly. "Are you okay?"

"I'm just sore," I replied. I frowned as I realized something. "Why is it so dark?"

"Will found the main control room," Zach replied, as I started walking over to him. "Why are you here?"

"I was apparently apprehended after I passed out. I was making a diversion so Lou Ellen could get into her mother's temple," I said. I examined what was binding him to the chair. "Zach?" I asked, "is that bronze rope?"

"Yeah," he replied. "McKenna, they didn't disarm you."

I looked down and saw that my charm bracelet was still securely on my wrist. I smirked. I tugged off the charm of a knife. "We're getting out of this hellhole," I replied before cutting the rope. As soon as it was gone, Zach shot to his feet and pulled me into a tight embrace.

"Gods, McKenna, why do we always run into trouble when we're separated?" he murmured.

I managed a light laugh, "Maybe because together we scare the troubles away."

"In that case," Zach replied, letting me go. "You're never allowed to leave me."

"I imagine I can live with that," I replied, smiling slightly. Zach leaned down and kissed me softly. "Come on," I said softly, "Lou could use our help."

Zach nodded and grabbed my hand. "They took my weapon," he said as we walked to the door. With the power outage, the door wasn't locked

"We'll find you another weapon," I assured him.

As we walked out of the room and into a circular chamber, filled with maybe twenty other rooms. There was a sign on the side that said, "Field A."

I was about to ask Zach if he knew where we were, when I heard a loud crashing noise, followed by a wordless shout of either pain or anger. "Something's up," I mumbled.

I gripped my sword firmly and began to lead the way down the long hall.

**~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~**

It didn't take us long to figure out who was doing the fightinIg. James and Will were at the entrance of the hallway after the one that we were on. They were fending off a large group of demigods. Before either Zach or I could do anything, there was a whizzing sound and an arrow landed in the middle of the group of demigods. Will seemed to be the only one to recognize what it was, because he barreled to the side and tackled James to the ground. Half a second later, the arrow detonated, a huge explosion sent all of their opponents flying everywhere. Just as James and will stumbled to their feet, a group of four people rounded the corner. Kayla, daughter of Apollo was at the front.

Another boy pushed past her, he had shaggy brown hair, brown eyes, and tanned skin, I recognized him from camp, he would only show up in the summer to spend time with Skylar's sister. He looked at James, "Where's Oliver?"

**I hope you enjoyed it. I really want some reviews for this one. This chapter was a major pain to write! And Lol, I hope you guys don't hate me! Question: who do you hate more? Oliver or Elizabeth?**

_**Preview:**_

_**"I don't care who he is to you, Matt," I said dangerously, "that bastard's ass is mine!"**_


	15. The Battle for Olympus

_**This is the final chapter for Electrifying Currents: Olympus has Fallen. Please enjoy.**_

**JAMES:**

I looked at the four newcomers. Kayla, daughter of Apollo, Mark, son of Ares, Matt, son of Ares, and Claire, daughter of Hermes. "What the hell are you guys doing here?" I demanded, ignoring Matt's question.

"Skylar," I looked over at Will, who's hand tightened on his bow at the sound of her name, "came to Katie Gardner in a dream before she... well anyway, we know what happened to her, and she let her know that you guys needed help storming Olympus." Matt smirked, "You have an ass load of fighters on your hands. Most have already begun fighting."

"Back to a more pressing topic," Claire said urgently, elbowing Matt in the side.

"Right," Matt said shaking his head, as if he was clearing his thoughts, and sending a subtle glare in Claire's direction, "where's Oliver?

"If I knew that," I replied, "I wouldn't be standing here."

"Look," Matt said, "he's my best friend-"

"I don't care who he is to you, Matt," I said dangerously, "that bastard's ass is mine!"

"He isn't in his right mind!" Matt shot back, "he was brainwashed by Gaea. I know Oliver, he wouldn't do this!"

"Apparently he was able to," I shot back. "Seph's dead now! Did you know that? Your best friend made me kill her!" I took a step toward Matt, but there was a hand latched on my shoulder. I spun around and saw that it was Will.

"Its not his fault," he said quietly, "don't take it out on Matt."

I looked over and saw McKenna standing there, staring at me. "What do you mean, 'dead?'"

"Oh gods," I muttered. "McKenna-"

"Answer me!" she demanded, tears started running down her face. "Where the hell is my sister?"

"I couldn't save her," I said, feeling myself fall into a pit of hopelessness. "I failed. She's gone because I couldn't protect her. Skylar too."

Not knowing whatelse to do, I pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

McKenna was silent as she hugged me back.

"We're gonna get them back," Will growled. "We gotta go, though. I imagine Lou Ellen needs some help. Hecate was supposed to go over there."

"Wait," Mark said, "isn't she in Tartarus?"

"They had the minor gods locked in the throne room," Will replied.

No more questions were asked and no more conversations were made as we all ran to the end of the hallway and out onto the outside of Olympus.

What we ran into was pure chaos. Fighting was everywhere. Monsters of all shapes and sizes, along with quite a few armored demigods were facing off against my friends. Immediately we ran into the fray, our weapons in hand... well everyone but Zach. He managed to scavenge a blade off of a fallen soldier quickly enough.

"Where to?" McKenna demanded.

"Hecate's temple seems like a winner!" I shouted in reply.

I looked around and saw that the only people that were around were Will, Zach, and McKenna. Matt, Claire, Mark, and Kayla were gone. I didn't have time to wonder about that. I raced through a pack of dracane, cutting through the ones closest to me without hesitation. I barely flinched as one of their blades cut through one of my long sleeves, managing a shallow cut on my arm. Will was already there, cutting her with his knife. Once we made it through that swarm, it was a straight shot to the temple.

I tripped and stumbled over a dead body. I didn't look down, I didn't want to know who it was. I allowed myself a small curse before resuming on my way, still leading the others toward the temple. When we made it to the large space set aside for Hecate's temple, I stopped right in my tracks. Apparently Percy and a few others had figured out where the important fight was.

I saw that specific son of Poseidon quickly putting a hoard of Hellhounds down. As soon as he saw us come up, he jogged over. "About time you guys got here!"

I ducked as a demigod cut a sword arc by my head, my sword whipped around and slashed at his legs. The boy jumped out of the way, long enough for me to reply, "What do you mean?"

Percy was busy with a dracane, but he managed a reply as he dodged her net. "Hecate has locked the temple down with Lou Ellen still inside with her. They're coming up with the concoction to revive Morpheus, slight problem, though."

"And what would that be?" Will demanded, firing an arrow at a demigod that was about to strike Zach in the back.

"Well more than one, really." Percy replied, running the dracane through. "Hecate isn't at full power, which isn't surprising, so the fortifications aren't too strong, some of the stronger demigods and monsters can get through." He had to pause as a squad of ten or so demigods surrounded the five of us.

"Two apiece?" I suggested.

"Great idea," Percy replied, as all of us jumped forward.

"Back to the explanation," I proded, as I ducked out of the way of a knife.

"Right," Percy grunted, tripping his tallest opponent. "Well, Lou Ellen tripped some kind of trap once she set foot into the temple... ten minutes ago."

"What kind of trap?" I inquired as I twisted a arm behind the back of the girl that I was fighting.

"The temple is set to blow in twenty more minutes," Percy replied. "And it will unless Morpheus is awakened."

"What's the problem?" Will questioned as he stabbed what looked to be a son of Apollo in the stomach with one of his knives, "Hecate's in there! She could awaken him with a snap of her fingers!"

"If she was in full power," I said suddenly, realizing the gravity of the situation. "Will," I said, breaking the arm of the boy I was now up against. "She can't do a thing. Her powers are being spent by creating the weak forcefield that's keeping the demigods and monsters out."

"Then we're screwed," McKenna summed as she uppercutted a soldier, hitting him on the chin with enough force to send him flying to the ground.

"No," Percy said, "you're forgetting the daughter."

"What about her?" I questioned. "They're surrounded, there's nothing that can be done!"

"There is," Percy replied as we pressed forward into a group of Hellhounds.

"What?" I demanded as I dodged a particularly large and sharp claw. And swinging my sword up in retaliation.

"She can take the forcefield," Percy replied, "Hecate can fix him. Problem: the the reaction isn't instantaneous. Its gonna take a few minutes and the forcefield is going to end up draining Lou's power," he paused as he drove a sword through a hellhound's midsection. "It'll end up killing her."

"She'll come back!" I shouted, starting to remember everyone else that died as I rolled under a hellhound that just lunged at me.

"She wouldn't hesitate," Percy defended, stabbing a hound that was about to decapitated McKenna. "Hecate is worried that she'll die before the spell is complete."

"We don't have a choice," Zach snapped before a hellhound jumped at him from the side. I saw that he was too busy fending off another one.

"No!" I shouted, ramming him out of the way, and gasped as the breath was knocked out of me as the hound. I felt my arm and few ribs snap from impact. And as soon as I felt the crushing weight, it was gone. I looked up and saw Zach standing there.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded, helping me to my feet. I hissed in pain as my arm moved.

"McKenna already lost her friend and sister," I replied. "She doesn't need you gone."

"What the hell do you think you are to her?" he snapped. "Her sister's boyfriend? You're like her older brother, you dumbass!"

I groaned and cradled my left arm against my chest.

A demigod came running at me, shouting an insane battle cry, I jumped out of the way of his sword, and forced the winds to pick up, blowing him back. I picked my fallen sword up from the ground, allowing anger and raw emotion of my loss and allowed it to channel through me, causing electricity to crackle on my skin. I didn't feel pain anymore, only pure rage.

"They better hurry up!" I snapped to no one in particular.

**LOU ELLEN:**

"Mother," I shouted, leaning over Morpheus, after I had muttered the dozenth failed incantation. "Give me the forcefield! You can examine him much better than I can, I've never encountered this spell!"

"You don't know what you're asking for!" Hecate snapped at me.

"I'm asking for death," I shot back, "I know the repercussions! And I'm terrified, but I have to do something!"

Hecate looked at me one last moment before sighing. "You have to hold on for life for another five minutes or so."

I nodded rapidly in understanding as Hecate closed her eyes. I looked at her expectantly and suddenly I was hit with a huge and painful force. I felt my energy rapidly depleting. I gasped and immediately fought against it. I stood stock still and pulled at the innermost dregs of strength that I didn't even know I possessed. I saw Hecate leaning over Morpheus nd whispering something under her breath. I probably would have screamed from the exertion that was being pulled but doing so would have expended precious energy that I needed.

Both Hecate and Morpheus began glowing, immediately I closed my eyes, my life force slipping away, and I couldn't grasp onto anything to stop of from leaving me. I gave a scream of defiance as I fell to the ground and darkness crashed all around me.

**JAMES:**

I let out a strangled yelp as a dracaenae's spear got too close to me for comfort. Percy was there in an instant, and turned her into dust. "Percy," I asked, "where's Annabeth? This is the longest I've ever seen you without her!"

"Leading the other group of soldier further out!" he shouted in reply, nodding to the first group of fighters that we'd encountered in order to get here.

"Tempest!" Percy shouted. "I've noticed a couple of members missing from your normal group. Where's Seph? And Skylar?"

I faltered for a moment in shock, forgetting that Percy might want to know what happened to his sister as well. It was long enough for a demigod to ram into my side, knocking me onto the road. I grunted as I jumped to my feet, ignoring the almost unbearable stabbing pain in my arm, and punched the demigod in the nose, feeling a satisfactory crunch.

"Im sorry, Percy, they're both..." I trailed off as the temple began to glow violently, the wind started to blow outward, and everyone gave pause, looking toward the structure. The light started getting brighter, exploding outward and the last thing I remember seeing was a blinding white light before complete blackness.

_**In case anyone is wondering, the glowing means Morpheus is awake. The demigods succeeded in their job, and the Fates are putting everything back to normal. The third and final installment should be coming out soon. I have everything planned out for it, this one is going to be more complex than either of these, there will be new characters and twists that no one will see coming. If you have no already, be sure to check out my newest OC story, it's almost like a prequel to the Electrifying Currents series, and explains a lot about Oliver.**_

_**I still have a few things to figure out for the next one, and I can say that it won't be coming out until "Seeking Hades" is finished. I imagine that some of you will be unhappy about how abrupt the ending is. If you would like, I could make an epilogue for the story. **_

_**Don't forget to leave a review! :)**_


	16. Epilogue

JAMES:

When my eyes opened again, I was standing in the Olympian throne room. Everything was bright and shiny, and no sign of grey was anywhere in sight. All of the gods looked at me and the girl standing beside me, McKenna. Everything was silent for a moment, before the entire throne room bursted out in shouts of celebration. Even Zeus had a smile on his normally stoic face. He looked down at me, and his smile faltered slightly.

Almost immediately he looked away and at the rest of the gods, "We have had too much foolishness in our ranks lately. An emergency meeting is called, all gods are to be present, and call for Chiron." He looked down at McKenna and me, his features were firm, but he seemed grateful. "Thank you," he finally said. "Neither of you are traitors." He looked at me and said, "I was wrong about you especially. You sacrificed your happiness and the one you cared about the most for the sake of Olympus. We are truly in your debt."

All I managed to do was blink. Did Zeus, king of the gods, just apologize and thank me? "Don't mention it," I managed to stammer in my shock.

"Now go to camp," Poseidon said finally, "Its time for you to return to your loved ones. And Tempest?"

I turned to the lord of the seas and bowed slightly. "Yes?"

"Tread carefully around my daughter."

I felt a reddish tinge flame upon my cheeks as I bowed and said, "Yes, sire."

McKenna and I both ran out of the throne room and to the elevator. I needed to see everyone was okay for myself. And that was what started the longest trip to camp of my life.

~OLYMPUSHASFALLEN~

Once Thalia's pine tree was in sight, McKenna and I were both hysterical with happiness. We got out of the cab and paid the driver as fast as we could. The run toward the camp was thankfully short. Once we got within the safety boundaries, there was no word for what I felt.

I saw Will and Skylar again, she looked slightly confused and Will was hugging her still, apparently refusing to let her go. Not that I could blame him. Then I looked beside him. It was Seph. Time seemed to slow, my mind seemed to stop, and she was the only thing I saw.

Without even thinking, I took off, dashing toward her, McKenna was no longer on my heels once she caught up with Zach. I stumbled to a halt right in front of Seph, who was smiling up at me. Without hesitating, I wrapped my arms around her waist and pulled her tightly against me. In my uncontrollable happiness, I lifted her off the ground and spun her around, holding her as close as possible.

"Jeez, Tempest," Seph said in my ear. "I know I was hurt, but I didn't think you would care that much."

That was when reality set in. She didn't remember anything about that hell. She didn't remember us, she didn't know that I loved her, she didn't realize that I killed her. Slowly composing myself, I stepped away and gave her a half smile despite the fact that my entire world was starting to fall apart. "Of course I care, Current. We're partners, remember?"

She gave me a soft smile and I had to physically restrain myself from pulling her into another hug. I glanced over at Will, who was staring at me, a look of apology on his face. I needed to be alone. "Look, I have something to take care of..."

Without any more explanation, I walked away, my mind was too numb with grief to even see how amazing it was that we were still alive.

My cabin was how I remembered. When I plopped down, I closed my eyes, and tried to figure out what to do. The only girl that I would follow blindly regardless of the consequences, the only girl that could calm me down with just a touch or a world, and could get me riled up in the same manner, had no idea the power that she had over me. I was going to have to distance myself again, before I did something stupid... like break a boy's arm for flirting with her.

Sighing loudly, I walked back outside. The Stolls were leaning against the Hermes cabin, when they saw me walk up, they smirked. "Hey, James," Connor said, "long time no see."

"Yeah," I said, "apparently fighting for Olympus has a tendency to do that."

"I heard that Skylar doesn't remember," Travis said, looking over at her.

"She doesn't," I agreed.

"Neither does your girlfriend," Connor added.

"Not my girlfriend anymore," I informed him, "she doesn't remember anything."

Both of the Stolls winced slightly. "Sorry, man," they both said.

I took a deep breath. It was time to start lying to myself and to others. "Its okay," I finally said, "we're better off alone than we were together. I probably won't even miss her."

So at the moment everything at camp was safe, the birds were singing and the clouds were high in the sunny sky. I looked up leaning against the Hermes cabin with my arms crossed. A war was coming, that was what I was sure of, I didn't know when, but what I did know was that it wasn't at that particular moment, and I wanted to take full advantage of the peace that I had, regardless of what tomorrow would bring.

**I hope this short "ending" is enough to sustain you. Did you see that coming with the memories... poor James. His normal distant and scornful demenor will show in the next one and now you know why. One last thing: the next story will be in 3rd person POV**


	17. AN

**The new story's up! It's called Electrifying Currents: The Final Battle**


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